In 9c the Krivichs, the Slovenes, the Mari, and the Chudes (Finnish and Slavic tribes) paid tribute to the Vikings coming from overseas. As the tribes began to grow wary of these tributes, the fights and conflicts have started to erupt. To stop the enmity, the Slavics called the Vikings to rule.
Vikings Prince Rurik, of the Vikings, and his brothers Sineus and Truvor agreed to come. Rurik started to reign in Novgorod, Sineus - in Beloozero, Truvor - in Izborsk.
From the Baltic Sea to the Black Sea to Constantinople the trade route flowed from the Vikings to the Greeks. The first ancient Rus cities appeared along the river banks.

Trade in the northern part of the path was controlled by Novgorod , in the southern part by Kiev. Due to a more favorable geographical position Kiev had a power over the lands from the middle reaches of the Dnieper River to Lake Ladoga.
«Khazar Kaganat» (the state located between the Black and the Caspian seas, created by the nomadic Khazars) collected tribute from the East Slavic tribes.
The nomadic Pecheneg tribes (Pecheneg Horde) lived from the lower Volga river to the mouth of the Danube river. The Pecheneg Horde bordered Rus, Byzantium, the Tsardom of Bulgaria and the Khazar Khaganate.
Pechenegs started systematic raids on these states.

The state Volga Bulgaria was created in the north of the Volga and the Kama rivers at the end of the 9c. It had military and trade rivalry with Kievan Rus.
Due to its favorable commercial location and fertile lands Bulgaria eventually became the most powerful state in the Middle and Lower Volga river region.
The outstanding commander of ancient Rus Prince Svyatoslav fought with the Volga Bulgaria, the Khazar Kaganate, the Bulgarian Tsardom and the Byzantium.
Svyatoslav established control over the upper course of the Volga river lands.

He created the conditions for the revitalization of the trade route along the Volgariver by defeating the Volga Bulgaria and the Khazar Khanate.
The conquest of Tmutarakan and Surkela cities made it possible to use the trade route from North-Eastern Rus to Constantinople along the Don river, bypassing Kiev.
This way conditions were created for the successful economic development of the Rus North-Eastern lands.
The Pecheneg Horde continued to inflict enormous damage to the resources of Rus. Pechenegs' main goal was to seize slaves, livestock and property.
In 10c under the rule of Vladimir, the Red Sun, Orthodox Christianity became the official state religion of Rus.

The adoption of Orthodox Christian religion strengthened the ties between Rus and Byzantium. The new faith helped Greek culture, science and art to spread among the Slavs. The Slavic alphabet was created.
Under the role of grand prince of Rus Yaroslav the Wise Rus has become one of the largest states in Europe, and Kiev became one of the largest cities in the world.
Kiev was called the 2nd Constantinople. Yaroslav was titeled the Tsar similar to the Byzantine emperors.
In 1097 Princes had a congress in Lyubech. At this congress the rule «Everyone keeps his fatherland» was adopted. This stated the beginning of political fragmentation of the Old Rus state.

The feudal fragmentation, internal instability and the constant struggle of Princely groups for the Kiev throne started. Princes in Kiev were changing one after another.
Siblings, uncles, and nephews became participants in internecine wars. They were killing each other struggling for power.
From the 11th to the 13th century the Polovtsy (the nomadic people of Turkic origin, who occupied the territory of the Great Prairies from the Danube to the Irtysh) became a serious political opponents of Ancient Rus.
The Polovtsy defeated the tribes of the Pechenegs and the Turks. They constantly raided the Rus lands.

The disintegration of Kievan Rus led to the formation of principalities. The numerous descendants of Yaroslav the Wise were fighting for Kiev power.
Bloody feuds and Princely raids ravaged cities and villages. This was the cause of popular unrest and invasions of militant nomads.
In 1108 the Grand Prince Vladimir Monomakh (the grandson of Yaroslav) founded Vladimir city as the new center of the North-Eastern Rus.
In the middle of the 12th century Andrei Bogolyubsky (the grandson of Vladimir Monomakh) moved the capital of Rus to Vladimir city. Vladimir city was located between Kiev (the southern center of Rus) and Ladoga (the Northern center of Rus).

The completion of the state formation of Rus predetermined the transfer of its center into the interior of the country.
It changed the role of Southern Kievan Rus. After for almost four centuries (9th-12th centuries) Southern Kievan Rus stopped being a focus of the historical development of Rus. And for almost four centuries (12th-17th centuries) was cut off from the center of Rus (first by Mongols, then by Lithuania and Poland).
From 1136 Novgorod became a republic ( Mr. Novgorod the Great ). Novgorod state administration was carried out using the system of veche DOBies.
At the end of the 12th century Galitsky-Volyn principality was formed in the south-west by combining the Galitsky and the Volyn principalities.
Galicia-Volyn principality was one of the largest principalities during the collapse of Kievan Rus.

At the beginning of the 13th century a huge army of Genghis Khan devastated Asia and Transcaucasia. In 1223 the Mongolian army defeated the combined forces of the Slavic Princes and Polovtsy on the Kalka river.
The army of Batu Khan (the grandson of Genghis Khan) defeated the troops of the Rus Princes in the east of Rus and in 1240 conquered Kiev. In 1243 Batu Khan founded the state of the Mongol-Tatars Golden Horde and imposed a tribute on the Rus lands. The state was located in the lower reaches of the Volga river.

Rus Princes could obtain the power over their lands only with the approval of the Khans of the Golden Horde.
The feudal division and Princely internal quarrels also facilitated the subsequent successes of the Mongols, who conquered and subjected most of the Russian lands, although in socio-economic and cultural terms the conquerors were less developed than the people they had conquered.
Having conquered the Russian lands, Batu invaded Eastern Europe, with the intention of subjecting the European states. Weakened by the struggle with Russia, however, his forces were not strong enough to carry out these plans, and at the end of 1242 the conquerors turned back eastwards. Batu settled on the Lower Volga river, where a new state was sittuated, the Golden Horde, with its capital in Sarai. The Russian land owners became vassals of the Horde.
Mongol-Tatars did not reach Novgorod. Novgorod became the main custodian of Old Rus culture after the collapse of Kievan Rus.
In the 13th century German knights and Swedish feudal lords also began to make raids on Rus.
German Crusader Knights invaded the Baltic States after the Vatican proclaimed a crusade against the Northwest. Livonian Order was created. After strengthening their power in the Baltic States the knights turned their aggression against Novgorod and Rus.
In the North Swedish feudal lords laid claim to the territory of Novgorod and sought to conquer the Baltic coast.
Prince Alexander defeated the Swedes in 1240 at Neva river and became known as Alexander Nevsky. In 1242 Alexander's army defeated the Livonian Order (this event is known as the Ice Battle).

In the 14th century, as in the preceding period, a bitter struggle continued between the Russian principalities for political and economic supremacy. This internecine strife profited the Horde, because it undermined the forces that could have resisted Mongol oppression. The khans of the Horde encouraged this internal struggle between the Russian princes and used it to suppress the popular uprisings against the invaders that broke out sporadically.
A prince who succeeded to a princely throne had first to obtain the sanction in the Horde in the form of a special written document or yarlyk permitting him to reign. The Russian prince who obtained a yarlyk to rule in the grand principality of Vladimir was senior to all the other Russian princes.

The competition between the politically and economically strongest princes for sanction to rule the grand principality led to the killing of one Russian prince while he was visiting the Horde, with the connivance of another.
In the late13th and early 14th centuries the principality of Moscow emerged as one of the strongest in North-Eastern Russia. The Moscow princes played an active part in the struggle for supremacy among the Russian princes, and, consequently, for the title of Grand Prince of Vladimir. The main rivals in this struggle at the beginning of the 14th century were the princes of Tver and Moscow. At that time when religious ideology was prevalent the support of the Church was extremely important. Moscow was most successful in strengthening its alliance with the Church. In the 1320s during the reign of Prince Ivan Kalita (Ivan the Money-Bag) Metropolitan Peter of All Russia moved from Vladimir to Moscow, and Moscow became the ecclesiastical centre of all the Russian lands.
By the end of the 14th century Moscow Rus openly opposed the Mongol-Tatar Horde. In 1380 Prince Dmitry defeated the army of Khan Mamai on Kulikovo Field.
In the 14th century a strong state of Grand Duchy of Lithuania appeared in Europe. The Grand Prince Gediminas was the founder of Lithuania.
Smolensk, Pskov, Galitsko-Volynsk, and Kiev principalities became dependent on Lithuania. Many Rus lands joined Lithuania, seeking to find protection from the Mongol-Tatars.
In 1362 the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seized Kiev and cut off Kiev from the center of Rus. The independent Ukrainian nationality began to form with its own language and culture.
Until the end of the 14th century Rus regions within the Lithuanian principality did not experience national-religious oppression.

In the 1st half of the 15th century, at the same time as the unification of the lands around Moscow, the number of apanages within the borders of the Moscow principality increased as a result of territory being divided up between a number of heirs. The grand prince sought to turn them into privileged landowners bound to serve him. This led to the outbreak of a feudal war in the 2nd quarter of the 15th century which lasted for almost 30 years. In the end, the forces of the apanage and boyar opposition was defeated, and the power of the Grand Prince of Moscow consolidated.
The principality of Tver and the Novgorodian boyar republic took an active part in the struggle against Moscow. This feudal war was a bitter, cruel one, complicated by the constant struggle against the Horde.

The 2d half of the 15th century, during the reign of Ivan III, saw the formation of a united Russian state. Novgorod and the extensive Novgorodian lands (which had an outlet for the White Sea and the Arctic Ocean) were joined to Muscovy, together with Tver, Yaroslavl, and other lands, and also Vyazma, Gomel and Chernigov, which were won back from Lithuania; in the early 16th century Pskov, Ryazan and Smolensk also joined the Russian state.
Ivan III of had the role of liberator from the Tatar-Mongolian yoke.
The end of vassal dependence on the Horde was marked by standoff between the forces of Akhmat Khan of the Great Horde, and the Grand Prince Ivan III of Muscovy in 1480 («standing on the Ugra»). Soon after this the Great Horde was defeated by the Crimean Khanate and lost its independence.
Ivan III was the first of the Rus Princes to take the title of «Sovereign of All Russia», and introduced the term «Russia».
Ivan III got the nickname «the Great».
The new symbol of the country was double-headed eagle, the same as state symbol of the Byzantium and the Holy Roman Empire. Ivan III's wife, Sophia Paleolog, was the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. Russia was promoting the idea of the continuity of power from the Byzantium.
In the 15th century the Kazan (on the territory of the former Volga Bulgaria state), the Astrakhan and the Siberian Khanates separated from the Golden Horde.
The Moscow Princes tried to establish control over the Kazan and the Astrakhan Khanates.

At the beginning of the 16th century the Kazan Khanate entered into an alliance with the Muslim Crimea and Turkey, becoming an implacable opponent of the Moscow state.
In 1552 Ivan IV the Terrible conquered the Kazan Khanate.
In 1556 his army conquered the Astrakhan Khanate.
In 1582-1598 the Siberian Khanate was conquered. Gradually other Islamic states were annexed to become a part of Orthodox Tsarist Russia by military means.

After the conquest of Kazan Khanate, Russia wanted to gain access to the Baltic Sea. It put forward plans for the capture of Livonia.
In 1561 the Livonian Order passed under the protectorate of Lithuania and Poland. Russia had to contend with a much stronger opponent.

In 1569 Poland and Lithuania merged into the Commonwealth (Lublin Union).
After the Union of Lublin in 1569 South territories of Grand Duchy of Lithuania (the territory of modern Ukraine) passed to Poland. It strengthened the process of separation between Ukranian and Belorus nationalities.
Russia was defeated in the 25 year long (1558–1583) Livonian War without getting access to the Baltic Sea. The consequence of the Livonian war was the extremely difficult situation for Russia. The country was devastated.

In 1571 Moscow was burned by the army of the Crimean Khan Devlet-Girey. Following that in 1572 the 120,000-strong Crimean-Turkish army was destroyed by Russia. It was the end to the many-century struggle between Russia and Khanate on the South.
The early reformationist movement (Protestant Reformation Martin Lutheror the European Reformation) in Russia was unsuccessful because the basis of the reformationist movements of the late Middle Ages were the towns, and in the 15th and 16th centuries Russian towns were not sufficiently developed.
The theory of «Moscow as the third Rome» - the idea of «Moscow as the new city of Constantine», proclaiming Moscow to be the spiritual centre of the whole of Christendom. Shortly before the capture of Constantinople by the Turks, the Byzantine Emperor and Patriarch, wishing to obtain help from the West, agreed to a union of the Greek Orthodox Church with the Latin Catholic Church. The union was not recognised in Russia, and the fall of Constantinople was seen as Divine punishment of the Greeks for renouncing Orthodoxy.
In 1598, with the death of the son of Ivan the Terrible, Fedor, the dynasty of Rurikovich was interrupted.
The TIME OF TROUBLES began.

The beginning of the 17th century was called in history as the Time of Troubles. This was a time of profound social and political crisis for Russia. The increasing social contradictions produced many uprisings of peasants, bondmen and urban townsfolk. The Polish intervention led to the loss of Smolensk and other south­western territories. The Swedes blocked Russia’s outlet to the Baltic. The crisis in the social and state structure was accompanied by a dynastic crisis.
Ivan the Terrible’s son Theodore died in 1598 leaving no heir. His brother-in-law Boris Godunov, who had in fact ruled Russia under Theodore and was a member of the old Moscow boyar family, acceded to the throne. After Boris’ death the cap of Monomachos became a plaything in the hands of numerous pretenders, lost as easily as it was won.

Boris Godunov’s son Theodore held the title of sovereign of All Russia for 6 weeks only, before being killed by the supporters of Pseudo-Dmitry I. Pseudo-Dmitry I was murdered before a year had passed. And 2 days after his death, Prince Vasily Shuisky, the leader of the plot, came to the throne, the last of the line of Rurik to accede to the throne of Moscow.
But Russia did not want to acknowledge this «boyar tsar».A new enemy threatened it — Pseudo-Dmitry II. He advanced as far as Moscow, largely thanks to the Polish interventionists. For almost 3 years Moscow and Tushino (Pseudo-Dmitry II capital) threatened each other, but neither side could gain the upper hand.
Vasily Shuisky, Tsar of Russia between 1606 and 1610, was forced to turn to the Swedes for assistance.
The Russian people had ceased to believe in the Divine origin of autocratic power, in the idea that there could be only one tsar «by the Will of God» in the country. During the Time of Troubles more than 10 of them appeared, and they came from different social strata.

The accession of the new Romanov dynasty in 1613 .
During the reign of Tsar Mikhail Romanov, Russian expeditions began the development of Eastern Siberia, Russia went to the Pacific Ocean.
17th century was known in history as the «Century of Rebellions». The most famous riots were: Salt and Copper riots in Moscow, riots in Novgorod and Pskov, Stepan Razin uprising, Streltsy riot or «Khovanshchina».
These revolts, which reflected the insoluble social contradictions of pre-Petrine Russia, compelled the government to introduce half-hearted reforms. But most of of reforms benefited the nobility, against whom the revolt had been directed. The estates which the serviced gentry had previously been held for their lifetime only were turned into hereditary holdings, and the peasants were bound once and for all to the land. This intensification of oppression immediately produced peasant revolts. Thus the revolts produced reforms, and the reforms fresh revolts.
The other very important event of the middle of 17th century was the church reform of Patriarch Nikon. Nikon introduced many reforms which eventually led to a lasting schism known as Raskol in the Russian Orthodox Church.
Historians reckon that between a quarter and a third of the population remained true to the old rites (the Old Believers). The nobility supported the reforms for various reasons and Old Believers’ movement very quickly turned into a movement of the lower classes.
An important event for the further development of the state was the unification of Russia and Ukraine in 1654. The close interaction of the culture of the Slavic peoples emerged as a result.
From the end of the 16th century to the middle of the 17th century serfdom took shape in Russia .
Peter the Great ruled the Tsardom of Russia and later the Russian Empire from 1682 until his death in 1725, jointly ruling before 1696 with his elder half-brother, Ivan V.

Under the rule of Peter I (Peter the Great) radical reforms took place in the Russian state. With his transformations Peter I wanted to change Russia to resemble the European style. The army, the state administration, and the education system were modernized.
As a result of Northern War Russia returned the Russian lands seized by Sweden at the end of the 16th century. After Russia's victory over Sweden, Peter I was proclaimed as the first Russian emperor. Under Peter I, an absolute monarchy was established. The church became dependent on the state.
The city of St. Petersburg was founded at the mouth of the Neva river. In 1712 the capital of Russia was moved to St. Petersurg.

Under Peter I rule, the Vedomosti newspaper started to be published in Russia. From January 1st, 1700 a new calendar was introduced - starting that year the new calendar year started January 1st (before that the new year was counted from September 1st). Schools were opened focusing on the new disciplines including: mathematical and navigational sciences, medical sciences, and engineering.
After Peter the Great began the Era of Palace Coups. It covered the period of Russian history between the reign of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great defined by rulers overthrowing each other from the throne with the help of elite palace guard.
Anna Ioanovna rule: some reforms were carried out such as the reform of the army, the Senate, the fleet, and others. The Office of Secret Investigation Affairs was established.
Elizaveta Petrovna continued the policy of her father, Peter the Great. Elizabeth conducted a population census, abolished customs duties within the country, conducted tax reform, expanded the rights of the nobility. Moscow University was founded .
The second enlightened monarch reformer of 18century after Peter the Great was Catherine II (Catherine the Great). She carried out the provincial reforms, the judicial reforms, strengthened the army and the navy, strengthened the bureaucracy, and increased the exploitation of serfs.
Under Empress Catherine the Great, the conquest of America began. Russia conquered from Turkey the access to the Black Sea.
The growth of the privileges of the nobility in the 2nd half of the 18th century and their actual release from compulsory service led to a tightening of serfdom.

At the beginning of the 19th century much of Western Europe viewed Russia as hopelessly backward – even Medieval. It was considered more a part of Asia than an outpost of European thought. During the 1st half of the century, indeed, peasants (called «serfs») were still treated as the property of their feudal masters and could be bought and sold, though they had a few more rights than slaves.
However, the nobility of Russia had looked to the West for ideals and fashions since the early 18th century: Russian aristocrats traveled extensively in Western Europe and adopted French as the language of polite discourse. They read French and English literature and philosophy, followed Western fashions, and generally considered themselves a part of modern Europe.

The reign of Alexander I was characterized as «Russia at the crossroads». Russia now began to develop a culture which would be admired and emulated by the West. The Empire now moved to the center of of European diplomacy arena. Russian educators, who reflected the ideals of Voltaire and his followers, saw public education as contribution to native virtues and leading of national progress. However, that mood changed after the Napoleonic wars when, in fear of revolution, authorities saw the school system primarily as a means for inculcating obedience and Christian pietism.
In 1809 Russia seized the Swedish-owned Finland , which became part of the Russian Empire.
In 1812 the Patriotic War with Napoleon , who declared himself emperor of France, began.
After the victory in the Patriotic War, a campaign of the Russian army took place, which liberated the European countries from the domination of Napoleon. After the end of the war revolutionary ideas that had penetrated into Russia in 1825 turned into a failed Decembrist uprising.
Fearing the new uprisings, the state tightened control over the country's political, economic, and cultural life. Russia was called «The gendarme of Europe.»
After the Decembrist uprising, Nicholas I did not trust the nobility, and the officials became the ruling class.
As a result the number of officials increased 6 times.
In the course of long wars with the mountaineers in the 19th century Russia annexed the Caucasus. The territories of Central Asia were also annexed (Bukhara and Khiva Khanates, Kazakh zhuz).
In 1861 under the rule of Emperor Alexander II serfdom was abolished in Russia. There were also a number of liberal reforms that accelerated the modernization of the country. These reforms radically changed society and were called the «Revolution from Above».
Since the authorities feared the weakening of the foundations of autocracy, the reforms were not completed. Bureaucratic centralism was preserved, the agrarian question was not resolved, the constitution was not adopted, there were no legislative power or political parties.
The 70s of the 19th century were the period of the emergence of ideas about the revolutionary struggle.
After the assassination of Alexander II, Alexander III ascended the throne, who during his reign did not conduct a single war, for which he was called «Peacemaker».
His task was to strengthen the economy and the development of large industrial enterprises. Alexander III developed a new «hard» course in all areas of public life, limiting the freedom of the press and the democratic nature of local self-government.
The period 1881-1917 was not only a reaction time, but also the spread of Marxism in Russia and formation of revolutionary parties: of the Russian Social-Democratic Workers Party (RSDLP) and the Socialist Revolutionary Party (SRs).

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries Russia began to actively explore the Far East, which caused Japan’s concern. In the course of Russian-Japanese War Russia was defeated due to the lack of modern technical equipment and incompetence of senior officers.
In 1914 Russia entered the World War I. The February Revolution of 1917 put an end to the monarchy: Tsar Nicholas II abdicated the throne, power passed to the Provisional Government. After the October Revolution of 1917 the Russian Soviet Republic was proclaimed in . The Soviet Republic began to liquidate private property and nationalize it.
The Soviet Republic signed piece treaty (treaty of Brest-Litovsk) with Central Powers (German Empire, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria, and the Ottoman Empire) that ended Russia's participation in WWI. The peace treaty resulted in the loss of Ukraine, the Baltic states, Poland, parts of Belarus and ~ 90 tons of gold. It also became one of the causes of the civil war.

In March 1918 the Soviet government moved from Petrograd to Moscow, fearing the Germans would seize the city.
In 1922, the USSR (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Transcaucasian Federation) was formed. In 1921–1929, the New Economic Policy ( NEP ) was carried out. In the 1930s Stalin carried out a «purge» of the party apparatus. A labor camp system was established ( GULag).
In 1939–40 Western Belorussia, Western Ukraine, Moldavia, Western Karelia, and the Baltic states were annexed by the USSR.
In 1941 the surprise attack of Nazi Germany started the Great Patriotic War. The Second World War ended with the capture of Berlin in May 1945 and the surrender of Germany.
As a result of the war with Japan in 1945, the South Sakhalin and the Kuril Islands became part of Russia.
As a result of the WWII the countries of Eastern Europe (Hungary, Poland, Romania, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, the GDR) fell into the Soviet zone of influence. Relations with the West have dramatically escalated.
The «cold war» began - the confrontation between the West and the countries of the socialist camp, which reached its peak in 1962. At that time the intensity of the conflict gradually subsided, and was some progress in relations with the West, in particular, an agreement on economic cooperation with France was signed.
In the 70s the confrontation of the USSR and the USA weakened. Agreements on the limitation of strategic nuclear weapons were reached.
The second half of the 70s was called the «era of stagnation» , when, with relative stability, the USSR gradually lagged behind the advanced countries of the West in terms of technology.
When Mikhail Gorbachev came to power in 1985, the Soviet Union declared the policy of restructuring «perestroika», to solve the problems in the social sphere and the social production, and also to avoid the impending economic crisis caused by the arms race.
However this policy led to a deepening crisis, the collapse of the USSR and the transition to capitalism. In 1991 the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) was created, which included the RSFSR, Ukraine and Belarus.

862-879 The reign of Prince Rurik (Varyazhsky) in Novgorod.
Scientists do not know to what ethnic group the family of Prince Rurik belonged to. None of the theories about its origin have yet been proven.
864 Beginning of the reign of Askold and Dir in Kiev (boyars (warriors) of the Prince of Novgorod Rurik).
879 Prince Rurik died in a military campaign. «Prophetic» Oleg (Prince Rurik's relative, regent over young Igor Rurikovich, the son of Prince Rurik) became the Prince of Novgorod.
882 Prince Oleg's campaign from Novgorod to Kiev. Kiev became the capital of the ancient Russian state. The murder of Kievan Princes Askold and Dir by Oleg.
882-912 Prince Oleg was ruling in Kievan Rus and died in military campaign.

1015-1016, 1018-1019 Svyatopolk Vladimirovich I «the Cursed». Captured power after the death of his father (Vladimir). Kicked out of Kiev by the troops of Yaroslav Vladimirovich.
1016-1018, 1019-1054 Novgorod Prince Yaroslav I Vladimirovich «the Wise» . He entered Kiev after his brother's escape. The division of Russia between his sons. Triumvirate of Yaroslavichi.
1054-1068, 1069-1073 Izyaslav I Yaroslavovich. Received the throne by inheritance. He fled to Poland after the Kiev uprising in 1068.
1068-1069 Vseslav I «the Wizard». Kiev people helped him to seize power.
1073-1076 Svyatoslav II Yaroslavovich. He captured Kiev from Izyaslav I with the help of his brother Vsevolod.

1076-1077 Vsevolod I Yaroslavovich «the Peacemaker.» He ascended the throne after the death of his brother Svyatoslav. Gave power to his brother Izyaslav I.
1077-1078 Izyaslav I received reign (again) from his younger brother Vsevolod. Died in the battle on Nezhatinoy Niva.
1078-1093 Vsevolod I Yaroslavovich. Re-took the throne after the death of his brother Izyaslav I. He died from a long illness.
1093-1113 Svyatopolk II Izyaslavich. Took the throne at the invitation of Vladimir Monomakh. He died from the disease.

1113-1125 Vladimir II Monomakh Vsevolodovich, in Kiev.
1125-1132 Mstislav Vladimirovich, in Kiev. The beginning of the collapse of Kievan Rus after the death of Mstislav Vladimirovich.
1149-1150 Yuri Vladimirovich Dolgoruky.
1157-1174 Prince Andrei «Bogolyubsky» (son of Yuri Dolgoruky) reign. He was killed in 1174.
1176-1212 Vsevolod «the Big Nest» (son of Yuri Dolgoruky) reign in Vladimir-Suzdal (Vsevolod had 12 children).
1199 Unification of Volyn and Galitsky principalities.

1212-1216, 1218-1238 Yuri II Vsevolodovich.
1216-1218 Konstantin Vsevolodovich «the Kind».
1238-1246 Yaroslav Vsevolodovich - Prince of Pereyaslavl, Grand Prince of Kiev (1236-1238, 1243-1246), Grand Prince of Vladimir (1238-1246), Prince of Novgorod.
1246–1247 Svyatoslav Vsevolodovich.
1247–1248 Mikhail Yaroslavovich «the Brave».
1249–1252 Andrey Yaroslavovich.
1252-1263 Alexander Yaroslavovich Nevsky.
1263-1272 Yaroslav III Yaroslavovich.
1272-1276 Vasily Yaroslavovich Kostroma.
1276-1281, 1283-1294 Dmitry Alexandrovich Pereyaslavsky.
1281-1283, 1293-1304 Andrey Alexandrovich «Gorodetsky».

1328-1341 Ivan I Daniilovich Kalita.
1341-1353 Simeon Ivanovich «the Proud».
1353-1359 Ivan II Ivanovich «the Merciful».
1359-1363 Dmitry Konstantinovich Suzdal, great grandson of Andrey Yaroslavich.
1363-1389 Dmitry Ivanovich Donskoy.
1363 Approval of Dmitry Ivanovich at the Grand Duchy of Vladimir.
1389-1425 Vasily I Dmitrievich.

1425-1433 Vasily II Vasilyevich «the Dark».
1433-1434 Yury Dmitrievich Zvenigorodsky (Yury Galitsky), brother of Vasily Dmitrievich.
1434-1462 Vasily II Vasilyevich «the Dark».
1462-1505 Ivan III Vasilyevich «the Great».

1505-1533 Vasily III Ivanovich.
1533-1538 Elena Glinskaya.
1533-1537 The beginning of reign of Ivan IV Vasilyevich «the Terrible».
1538-1547 Boyar rule.
1547-1584 In 1547, upon reaching adulthood, Ivan was crowned Tsar of All Russia. Before him all rulers of Muscovy were Grand Princes. Ivan was the first to appoint himself the tsar, «Caesar», in the European tradition of «emperor», whose power comes directly from God.
1584-1598 Fyodor Ivanovich «the Blessed».
The End of the Rurik Dynasty.
1598-1605 Boris Fedorovich Godunov.
Before 1613 Start of the Time of Troubles.

April-June 1605 Fedor Borisovich Godunov.
1605-1606 False Dmitry I.
1606-1610 Vasily IV Shuisky.
1610-1613 Seven Boyars.
1613-1645 1st Tsar of the Romanov dynasty - Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov.
1645-1676 Alexei Mikhailovich Romanov «the Tishayshy» (most quiet).
1676-1682 Fedor Alekseevich Romanov.
1682-1689 Sophia Alekseyevna ruled as regent of Russia.
1682-1696 Ivan V Alekseevich Romanov.
1682-1725 Peter I Alekseevich the Great.

1725-1727 Catherine I Alekseevna (wife of Peter I).
1727-1730 Peter II Alekseevich (grandson of Peter I - 12-year-old son of Tsarevich Alexei).
1730-1740 Anna Ioanovna (Peter I's niece - came from Kurland).
1740-1741 Ivan VI Antonovich (3-month-old nephew of Anna Ioannovna).
1741-1761 Elizaveta Petrovna (daughter of Peter I).
1761-1762 Peter III Fedorovich (grandson of Peter I, son of Anna Petrovna).
1762-1796 Catherine II Alekseevna (Peter III's wife).
1796-1801 Pavel I Petrovich.

1801-1825 Alexander I Pavlovich.
1825-1855 Nikolai I Pavlovich.
1855-1881 Alexander II Nikolaevich.
1881-1894 Alexander III Aleksandrovich.
1894-1917 Nikolai II Aleksandrovich.

March-July 1917 Lvov Georgy Evgenievich.
July-November 1917 Kerensky Alexander Fedorovich.
1917-1924 Ulyanov ( Lenin ) Vladimir Ilyich.
1924-1953 Stalin Joseph Vissarionovich.
1953-1964 Khrushchev Nikita Sergeevich.
1964-1982 Leonid Ilyich Brezhnev.
1982-1984 Yuri Vladimirovich Andropov.
1984-1985 Chernenko Konstantin Ustinovich.
1985-1991 Gorbachev Mikhail Sergeevich.
1991-1999 Boris Yeltsin.
since 1999 Putin Vladimir Vladimirovich.

860 Varyags (Normans) Askold and Dir, two warriors Rurik, led a campaign against Constantinople. On the their way to Constantinople they stopped in the city of Kiev, on the bank of the Dnieper. They helped the people of Kiev to free themselves from the power of the Khazars, gained a strong military support and established their power in Kiev.
882 Oleg approached Kiev in order to conquer the south. Oleg fighters presented themselfes as merchants. Askold and Dir came to meet them with no guardians. Oleg fighters rushed at Askold and Dir. «- You are not Princes and not a Princely family. Here is son of Rurik»- and Oleg pointed to little Igor. Oleg's warriors killed Axold and Dir. Oleg of Novgorod became supreme ruler of the Rus from 882 to 912, laying the foundation of the powerful state of Kievan Rus.

972-78 Civil strife of the sons of Svyatoslav Igorevich - after the death of the Prince he had three sons who had the right to inheritance. The rules of inheritance from father to eldest son did not exist then. Yaropolk Svyatoslavich - received power in Kiev; Oleg Svyatoslavich - the territory of Drevlyan; Vladimir Svyatoslavich - Novgorod, and later - Kiev.
Vladimir and Oleg wanted to get complete independence from Kiev. They made the first campaigns against each other.
Yaropolk attacked Oleg, who was not prepared. Drevlyane, along with his Prince, were forced to retreat.

As a result, during the retreat, Prince Oleg died. Drevlyans began to obey Kiev. Prince Vladimir, having learned about the death of his brother and the outbreak of family strife, fled to the Varangians.
970s Vladimir returned to Russia with the Varangian army. As a result of the battles with the troops of Yaropolk, Vladimir managed to recapture Novgorod, Polotsk and moved towards Kiev.
One of the advisers of Yaropolk (the traitor) persuaded the Prince to leave Kiev and hide in the city of Rodna. On the way he was killed by two Varangian warriors.
Vladimir (1 Svyatoslavich «Red Sun») became a Prince in Kiev and ruled there until his death.

1015 Vladimir («Red Sun») died in 1015 without leaving the rule of inheritance.
The adopted nephew of Vladimir Svyatopolk seized power.
The son of Vladimir Boris was brutally murdered by Svyatoslav on the Alta River when he was returning from a hike with the Pechenegs.
After the murder of Boris Svyatopolk called his brother Gleb to Kiev and killed him (he was scared for Gleb revenge).
Boris and Gleb are canonized.
1015-19 The war began between the sons of St. Vladimir («The Red Sun») - the struggle for power between Svyatopolk and Yaroslav («The Wise»).

1016 Yaroslav at the head of the 3,000-strong Novgorod army and Varangian troops moved against Svyatopolk, who called for help from the Pechenegs. Two troops met on the Dnieper near Lyubech, and for three months neither side risked crossing the river. Finally it was done by the Novgorodians, who got the victory. Yaroslav became Grand Prince of Kiev.
1018 A battle on the Bug River: Svyatopolk with the Polish Tsar Boleslav (father-in-law) opposed Yaroslav. Yaroslav was defeated, and Svyatopolk began to rule in Kiev.
1019 Jaroslav returned to Novgorod and gathered a new army.
The army of Yaroslav ("Wise") defeated the army of Svyatopolk on Alto.
Svyatopolk gave way to Yaroslav and fled to the Pechenegs.
Yaroslav («The Wise») began to rule in Russia, uniting under his rule Kiev and Chernihiv side of the Dnieper, when his brother Mstislav died in Chernihiv without heirs.
At the insistence of Yaroslav Svyatopolk («Cursed») is cursed by the Christian Church.
Yaroslav in advance established the order of power inheritance: from senior to junior.

1125 According to the rule of inheritance by Vladimir Monomakh, his son Yury Dolgoruky received Rostov and Suzdal.
Yuri was the seventh in the line of inheritance. The ambitious Rostov-Suzdal Prince was not pleased with this prospect.
Yuri Dolgoruky joined the internecine struggle, which struck all of Russia after the death of Monomakh.
Yuri Dolgoruky twice drove his nephews out of Kiev and became the Grand Prince, but in 1157 he was poisoned by the Kiev boyars. The son of Yuri Andrei Bogolyubsky in the last years of his father’s life reigned in Vladimir-Zalessky.

After the death of Yuri Dolgoruky Andrei became the sole ruler of Rostov, Vladimir and Suzdal and also began to claim the great reign. It was he who made North-Western Russia truly independent of Kiev.
During the reign of Vsevolod the Great Nest Great the principality of Vladimir reached the highest power.
1169 Twelve Princes appealed for help to Andrei Bogolyubsky against the rule of Mstislav Izyaslavich in Kiev. Andrei Bogolyubsky sent warriors, led by his son Mstislav Andreevich. Kiev was taken (burned) , and the Prince was replaced.

1211 Question of succession: the eldest son of Vsevolod Konstantin demanded authority over Vladimir and Rostov, and Yuriy should be given Suzdal.
Then Vsevolod deprived Constantine of the rights to a great reign in favor of Yuri: Yuri was appointed to Vladimir, and Constantine - to Rostov. This was the cause of the war between them after the death of Vsevolod.
In 1247 Prince Yaroslav, son of Vsevolod the Big Nest, died. The grand Prince's throne was inherited by his brother Svyatoslav. T he sons of Yaroslav longed for power- Alexander Nevsky and Andrei came to the Horde for a label to reign. As a result, Alexander received the great reign of Kiev and Novgorod , and Andrei - the Vladimir principality.

Alexander, desiring complete power, arrived at the Horde and reported that Andrei had hidden some of the tribute from him. As a result Mongolian troops moved into Russia, invaded Pereyaslavl-Zalessky and Galitsko-Volyn land. Andrei fled to Sweden.
1277 Alexander Nevsky's son Dmitry received the Vladimir principality.
But after 4 years his brother Andrei Gorodetsky received from Khan a label for reigning and drove Dmitry out of Vladimir. Between the brothers began a fierce struggle for reign.
1277-1294 In order to prevail over each other the brothers turned to the help of the Mongols. As a result during their reign 14 cities were destroyed.
Pereyaslavl passed to the youngest of the sons of Alexander Nevsky - Daniel of Moscow.

The southern and western regions of Russia became part of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. At the beginning of the 14th century the Grand Duchy of Lithuania became very powerful. Poland and Hungary got some of Kievan Rus lands.
Kiev lost its significance as a political center, and the Grand Prince Vladimirsky began to be recognized as the main Prince.
The struggle of the Moscow and Tver principalities for power began. In rivalry for power the Moscow principality won.
The population of Tver rebelled against the Horde. Moscow Prince Ivan Kalita united his forces with Khan against rebellions.

Brutal actions against Tver defended Ivan’s own principality.
The competent policy of Ivan Kalita and other Moscow Princes made Moscow the center of Russian lands.
Mid-14century In the Golden Horde, regular wars for the throne took place - «Great Jamming». From 1359 to 1380 more than 25 Khans changed on the Golden Horde throne, and many uluses tried to become independent. The territories subject to the Mongols also began to rebel.
In the period of the «Great Jamming» Dmitry Donskoy was able to defend the rights of the Russian Princes on Kulikovo Field and achieve independence.
In the period from 1380 to 1382 Russian Princes did not pay tribute.
The next ruler of the horde, Tokhtamysh, achieved the restoration of the payment of the tribute. Tokhtamysh united the White and Blue Hordes, forming the Golden Horde, and launched a massive military punitive campaign against the Russian principalities between 1381 and 1382, restoring Turco-Mongol power in Russia after the defeat in the Battle of Kulikovo.
1391-96 Tamerlane, the Central Asian ruler, struck Tokhtamysh. The battle between the two Mongol rulers played a key role in the decline of the Mongol power over early Russian principalities.

1425 The reign of Vasily II Vasilyevich began in Moscow. His guardian became Vitovt, Grand Prince of Lithuania. He defended his heir from the claims of Yuriy Galitsky.
1425 Pskov came under the rule of Vitovt, Grand Prince of Lithuania.
1430 After the death of Vitovt, an armed clash took place between Vasily II and his uncle, Yuri Dmitrievich Galitsky, who claimed the throne of Moscow.
1432 Novgorod came under the patronage of Svidrigailo, Grand Prince of Lithuania.
1433-53 The feudal war began in the Moscow principality for the right to inherit. On one hand: Yuri Dmitrievich and his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka. On the other hand: Yuri's brother Vasily I and his son Vasily II.

1434 After the death of Yuriy Galitsky his sons Vasily Kosoy and Dmitry Shemyaka continued to fight with Vasily II for possession of Moscow.
1446 Dmitry Shemyaka captured Moscow and blinded Vasily II (Dark).
1448 With the help of Kasim Khan and Yakub Vasily II the Dark conquered Moscow from Dmitry Shemyaka.
1449 With the help of the supreme clergy of Vasily II the Dark forced Dmitry Shemyaka abandon claims to Moscow.
1450 Dmitry Shemyaka last time attacked Moscow. Vasily the Dark captured Galich. Shemyaka disappeared in Novgorod.
1453 Dmitry Shemyaka was poisoned in Novgorod.
1471 The 1st campaign of Ivan III against Novgorod took place (Shelon Battle).
1478 Veliky Novgorod lost its independence and was attached to Moscow.

During the infancy of Ivan the Terrible his mother, Elena Glinskaya, ruled the state. In 1538 she died suddenly and the power actually passed to the Boyar Duma. In 1547 Ivan IV was crowned as Tsar.
1549-60 Ivan IV was ruling the state, relying on the informal government - the «Elected Rada». As a result of government reforms a centralized state with developed legislation and public institutions was created.
1553, 1560 After the betrayal of Sylvestre and Adashev during a serious illness on the verge of life and death in 1553, and after the death of his beloved wife Anastasia in 1560, Tsar Ivan IV turned from a pious and wise monarch into a tyrant and unbridled ruler.

1575-76 Ivan IV unexpectedly abandoned the royal throne and put the baptized Tatar, Kasimov's Khan Simeon Bekbulatovich, as the Grand Prince in Moscow. In 1576, Ivan IV returned to the royal throne (Karamzin in The History of the Russian State does not mention the fact of ruling of Simeon Bekbulatovich).
Ivan the Terrible had 4 children from his first marriage with Maria: Dmitry (died as a baby), Ivan (Ivan the Terrible was accused of his death in 1582, but there is no consensus), Evdokia and Fyodor (according to Ivan the Terrible are weak-willed and unfit for power). From the 2nd marriage with Maria, Vasily was born (died 2 months old).
The last son Dmitry was born from an illegal marriage with Maria Naga. In the Time of Troubles the name of Tsarevich Dmitry became a cover for many impostors.
Before his death Ivan IV established the Regent Council among the most influential boyars to help Fedor. The death of Ivan the Terrible marked the beginning of a intense struggle for power among the boyars.
From 1587 (during the reign of Tsar Fedor Ioannych) power in the country was actually concentrated in the hands of boyar Boris Godunov.
The younger brother of Fyodor Dmitry was sent by Boris Godunov to Uglich in 1584. Dmitry, even if he was illegitimate son, was the direct heir of Ivan the Terrible and could become a competitor to the power-loving Boris Godunov . He died in Uglich in 1591. Popular rumor blamed Boris Godunov for this death, but there was no direct evidence.
1598 Zemsky Sobor voted to secure Boris Godunov’s right to reign.

The beginning of the 17th century is called in Russia «Time of Troubles». The population was unhappy with the rule of Boris Godunov. During his reign a three-year famine began, during which up to a third of the total population died.
1601 Under these conditions a young person appeared in Poland, posing as miraculously escaping Tsarevich Dmitry, - False Dmitry I. Vasily Shuysky (boyar, the last descendant of Rurikovich), began to prepare a plan against False Dmitry I.
1603-04 Poland began preparations for the «return» of False Dmitry to the Russian throne. False Dmitriy promised to introduce Catholicism , to assist Sigismund III in the conflict with Sweden. To Poland he promised to give Smolensk and Seversk lands.

1605 After the death of Boris Godunov and the transfer of his army to the side of False Dmitry, Tsar Fedor 2 Borisovich was overthrown. The False Dmitry I entered Moscow and the next day he was crowned Tsar.
As a result of the boyar conspiracy, False Dmitry I was killed during the riot of the townspeople. The body was later burned and with dust fired from a cannon in the direction of Poland.
1606-10 The second stage of the Troubles: Vasily Shuisky was brought to power by the boyars after the murder of False Dmitry I. Shuisky lost control of the country - Swedes invited by Shuisky occupied the north-western regions of Russia, and the Polish Tsar Sigismund III officially attacked Russia, seizing Smolensk and attacking Moscow.
1607 A False Dmitriy 2 appeared, nicknamed the Tushino thief. Supported by the Poles and declaring himself miraculously survived False Dmitriy 1, he marched on Moscow.
1610 LzheDmitry II was killed. Polish army , taking advantage of the complete collapse of power in Russia, in September entered Moscow . As a result of the conspiracy, Tsar Vasily Shuisky was overthrown, the Boyar Duma took over and the Seven Boyars (a group of 7 boyars) took over.
Seven Boyars promised the Poles not to elect a representative of the Russian clans to the royal throne.
Seven Boyars invited to the throne the Polish Prince Vladislav with the condition of his conversion to Orthodoxy.
1610 The Polish Tsar Sigismund III demanded that not his son Vladislav, but himself was recognized the Tsar of all Russia. The government of Seven Boyars secretly let the Polish troops into Moscow - this fact became an act of national treason.
1611 Several Russian cities were preparing a new revolt against the Poles. Nizhny Novgorod became one of the centers of the resistance movement – its residents were constantly meeting to decide how and when to rise against the occupiers.
1612 The people's militia (Narodnoe Opolcheniye) headed by K. Minin and Prince D. Pozharsky liberated the Moscow. Exhausted by siege and famine, the Polish garrison surrendered to the victors.
1613 Zemsky Sobor elected to reign Mikhail Romanov, son of the boyar Fedor Romanov, nephew of Ivan the Terrible's wife, tonsured as a monk under the name of Philaret. Philaret was elevated to the rank of Metropolitan of Rostov.
1682 After the death of Tsar Fedor (Mikhail Romanov -> Alexey Mikhailovich -> Fedor Alexeevich) a sharp struggle of two court parties began - of the Miloslavskys and the Naryshkins.
Alexey Mikhailovich + Miloslavskaya = son Fedor, son Ivan, daughter Sofia;
Alexey Mikhailovich + Naryshkina = son Peter;
1682 After the Streltsy revolt Ivan (weak health) was crowned as the «first» Tsar , and his stepbrother Peter - the «second» Tsar. But the real power was concentrated in the hands of the elder sister of Princess Sophia.
1689 The marriage of Peter (to Lopukhina) deprived Sophia of custody.
1698 Strelets riot: Sophia's supporters intended to bring her back to power. Riot was suppressed by Peter. After the execution the body of the archers hung at the walls of the Novodevichy Monastery in front of the windows of the Sofia cell.

1718 In the Trubetskoy Bastion of the Peter and Paul Fortress the son of Peter I (28 years old) Alexei died (or was killed).
The version exists that Peter the Great killed his son. Possible reasons: the reformer-Tsar Peter I feared that his son Aleksey could oppose Peter's radical transformations such as multiple reforms, long war and the flow of foreigners.
Peter I did not leave a clear Will, and after his death began the Epoch of palace coups. After the death of Peter I the Guards regiments led by Menshikov raised to the throne Catherine the Great (wife of Peter I).
After the death of Catherine 1 the argument began again who will rule. The 12-year-old grandson of Peter I - Peter 2 - became the emperor. On the night before the planned wedding Peter 2 died of smallpox.

Again, the argument arose who will rule. They recalled Anna Ioanovna (the Duchess of Courland from the Baltic States) - Peter's niece 1 from his stepbrother Ivan. Dying, in October 1740, Anna Ioannovna appointed her great-nephew 3-month-old Ivan Antonovich as emperor.
Elizaveta Petrovna, 30-year-old daughter Peter I, also claimed the throne.
November 25, 1741 Elizabeth, wearing a cuirass (armor), appeared at the barracks of the Preobrazhensky Guards. At the head of several hundred guards and her small group of conspirators, she advanced to the Winter Palace, where the sentries were bloodlessly captured or joined the conspirators.
Ivan Antonovich was sent to prison and sat there separately from his parents.
Elizabeth Petrovna had no children. As an heir she brought her nephew from Europe - her sister Anna Petrovna’s son. Karl-Peter-Ulrich arrived to Russia at the age of 14, and was baptized under the name Peter III. Peter III became emperor after the death of Elizabeth.
June 1762 On the birthday of Peter III Catherine II (Peter’s III wife , German thoroughbred, Princess of Anhalt-Zerbst) carried out a Guards coup in her own favor. She forced Peter III to sign a renunciation of the throne and sent him into exile where he died.
With the agreement of Catherine II a jailbreak of legal heir, Ivan Antonovich, was organized. He was killed while trying to escape.
Paul I, the son of Catherine II, was her unwanted son. On the day of Catherine's death the publication of the manifesto on the removal of Paul was expected to be announced. It is widely believed that while Paul was waiting for his arrest, Catherine's Will was destroyed.
Emperor Paul I came to the throne at the age of 42 years.

Paul I was killed as a result of a palace coup March 11, 1801. Paul did not yield to the demand of the conspirators to agree to the abdication of the throne.
Alexander I, son of Paul I, died unexpectedly, far from Petersburg, in Taganrog. He had no son, and the heir to the throne was his brother Constantine, who abdicated the throne (he was married to a simple noblewoman, and this could have caused him to abdicate the throne).
Nicholas I began to rule - the third son of Paul I. Many of the Tsar’s contemporaries believed that he committed suicide under the influence of bad news about the course of the Crimean War.
Alexander II, son of Nicholas I, became emperor in 1855. He maintained a generally liberal course. Despite this, he was a target for numerous assassination attempts (1866, 1879, 1880).

The most significant attempts to kill Alexander II: the revolutionary terrorist Karakozov, teacher and member of the society «Earth and Freedom» Solovyov, an attempt to undermine the train, on which the emperor and his family members were traveling, the explosion in the Winter Palace.
In 1881 members of the Narodnaya Volya (People's Will) party killed him with a bomb. The first bomb was thrown under the horses of the emperor's carriage, the second bomb, wrapped in a napkin, was thrown under the emperor’s feet. The Emperor had earlier in the day signed the Loris-Melikov constitution, which would have created two legislative commissions made up of indirectly elected representatives, had it not been repealed by his reactionary successor Alexander III.
1887 Alexander III, son of Alexander II, was assassinated by a group of St. Petersburg students, called the Terrorist Fraction of the Narodnaya Volya Party.

1917 During the February Revolution, members of the State Duma announced the creation of a Provisional Government . In parallel, the Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Social Democrats formed their own governing body - Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies, which also claimed leadership. Both authorities sat in the Tauride Palace. Despite various political goals, the both sides were waiting for the abdication of Nicholas II from the throne.
Nicholas II signed the abdication (including on behalf of his son, Tsarevich Alexei) in favor of his brother, Mikhail Alexandrovich, not knowing that his brother refused to accept the throne.
By the end of August the people had lost faith in the Provisional Government. The popularity of the Bolsheviks was growing in the country. Lenin decided to concentrate power in his hands through an armed uprising and the seizure of power.

The October Revolution marked the transfer of power to the Bolsheviks.
1924 Lenin did not name anyone as his successor. The power was claimed by: Trotsky (army), Zinoviev (the Comintern), Stalin (General Secretary), Kamenev and Bukharin. The real struggle unfolded between Trotsky and Stalin.
1927 On the 10th anniversary of the revolution, the «Trotskyists» (Trotsky, Zinoviev and Kamenev) launched a mass agitation in favor of their slogans. The Stalin-Bukharin fraction turned to decisive measures to defeat the «Trotskyists», which marked their expulsion from the party. The power struggle was actually won by Stalin.
1953-55 The struggle for power after Stalin’s death at the initial stage was waged between Malenkov and Beria. Beria was shot in 1953 as an enemy of the people . In 1954, Malenkov was removed from his post as head of government.
1955-58 Malenkov teamed up with Molotov and Kaganovich ("opposition"). Khrushchev was removed from the post of Secretary General and appointed Minister of Agriculture. At the plenary meeting of the Central Committee «opposition» was dismissed. The power struggle was actually won by Khrushchev.
1964 The senior management was dissatisfied with Khrushchev’s policy. Khrushchev was summoned from his vacation in Pitsunda to an emergency meeting of the plenum of the Central Committee (conspiracy of Brezhnev, Kosygin, Suslov, Podgorny ). The KGB and the armed forces were actually controlled by the conspirators. After the removal of Khrushchev, Brezhnev took the post of first secretary of the CPSU Central Committee.
1991 The State Committee for the State of Emergency (Emergency Committee) tried to remove M. Gorbachev from the post of President of the USSR (August Putsch). The aim of the Emergency Committee was an attempt to change the course pursued by Gorbachev to Perestroika and publicity. Gorbachev refused to cooperate with the State Emergency Committee .
Boris Yeltsin, President of the RSFSR, arrived at the House of Soviets of the RSFSR (the White House), and refused to recognize the Emergency Committee. Yeltsin qualified the creation of the Emergency Committee as an attempted coup. State Emergency Committee members were arrested. Gorbachev resigned as secretary general of the CPSU.
Yeltsin headed the Russian government.

9-12centuries Russia represented a federation of city-states headed by the great Prince of Kiev. On Kievan Rus’ the term Grand prince is conventionally used to refer to the prince of Kiev. The title of «grand prince» designated the senior prince of the Rurikid dynasty in Rus principalities from the era of Kievan Rus’ until 1721.
Having secured control over the territory, landlords proceeded to introduce a system for the actual collection of tradables. Initially, this was based on mixed pattern of either «povoz», meaning that subdued tribes brought the tribute themselves, or «poludie», which means that the Prince and his retinue made a tour of the land to collect dues and taxes, tributes and tolls. Soon, however, there emerged a more structured system of tax administration that was based on old trading posts, know as «pogosti». In each district a special official was made responsible for the collection and timely transfer to Kiev of livied taxes.

During Polyudia the Prince dealt with complaints and ruled the court.
Druzhina, in early Rus, was a prince’s retinue, which helped him to administer his principality and constituted the area’s military force. The first druzhinniki (members of a druzhina) in Rus were the Norse Varangians, whose princes established control there in the 9th century. Soon members of the local Slavic aristocracy as well as adventurers of a variety of other nationalities became druzhinniki.
The druzhina was composed of two groups: the senior members (who became known as boyars) and the junior members. The boyars were the prince’s closest advisers; they also performed higher state functions. The junior members constituted the prince’s personal bodyguard and were common soldiers. All the members were dependent upon their prince for financial support, but each member served the prince freely and had the right to leave him and join the druzhina of another prince. As a result, a prince was inclined to seek the goodwill of his druzhina; he paid the druzhinniki wages, shared his war booty and taxes with them, and eventually rewarded the boyars with landed estates, complete with rights to tax and administer justice to the local population.
The ancient Russian legal process: if someone had a case against another, whom he considered guilty of theft, self-harm or murder, then he would summon him to the court of the Prince.
There was a judicial duel, during which both sides had to prove their case. The Prince decided the case with his sentence.
If both sides did not suit this sentence, then the final decision remained for the weapon.

As a result of the tax reform of Princess Olga, the polyudia system was abolished and replaced by paying fixed tribute. These tributes were gathered in the administrative centers by special Princely officials (by tiuni).
The veche - in ancient and medieval Rus’ a meeting of the people for the discussion of general affairs - arose from the tribal meetings of Slavs. With the formation of the old Russian state of Kievan Rus’, the feudal notables used the veche for limiting the power of the prince. Veche meetings became used on a wide scale in Rus’ with the weakening of the power of the princes in the period of feudal fragmentation (the second half of the 11th and the 12th centuries).

In the chronicle, the veche was referred to in Novgorod the Great in 1016, and in Kiev in 1068.The veches handled questions of war and peace; the calling and banishing of princes; the selection and removal of the posadnik, tysiatskii (thousand - the head of decimal military unit), and others, and in Novgorod, also of archbishops; the conclusion of treaties with other lands and principalities; and the passing of laws (for example, the Novgorod and Pskov law codes). The veche meetings were usually convoked by the ringing of the veche bell on the initiative of the representatives of the authorities or the population itself; the meetings were not held at regular intervals.
The proportion of estates was insignificant, and the main part of the territory was in the state property of military nobility, realized through the system of tributes.
Boyar, Russian Boyarin, plural Boyare, member of the upper stratum of medieval Russian society and state administration. In Kievan Rus during the 10th–12th century, the boyars constituted the senior group in the prince’s retinue (druzhina) and occupied the higher posts in the armed forces and in the civil administration. They also formed a boyar council, or duma, which advised the prince in important matters of state. The boyars in Russia were divided into «Princely people» - close to the Prince and «elders of the city» - descendants of tribal nobility.
The Boyars were getting the votchinas. Votchina or otchina or patrimony (о́тчина – from word Father) was a land estate that could be inherited. An owner of votchina (votchinnik) not only had property rights to it, but also some administrative and legal power over people living on its territory. These people, however, were not serfs, as they had a right to freely move to different votchinas.
First, Kievan Rus’ was a relatively free society, especially by the European standards of the time. Its princes, even within their individual principalities, did not have anything like the absolute power Russia's later czars would wield. Princely authority was limited by the power of boyars, who met in councils called dumas. Consulting with the boyars was the moral duty of the prince.
The jurisdiction of the church courts was controlled by Church Regulations (attributed to Prince Vladimir Svyatoslavovich).
starting 10 century a sloDOBa - was a kind of settlement in Kievan Rus. The name is derived from the early Slavic word for «freedom» and may be loosely translated as «(tax-)free settlement».
People living at sloDOBa were free from boyars and were belonging to the state as state citizens.
Initially, the settlers of such sloDOBa were freed from various taxes and levies for various reasons. Freedom from taxes was an incentive for colonization.
By the first half of the 18th century, this privilege was abolished, and sloDOBas became ordinary villages, shtetls, townlets, suburbs.

1016-1054 The «Russkaya Pravda», an 11th century series of law codes written by the Grand Prince Yaroslav Vladimirovich of Kiev and Novgorod. This document, and its later additions, were the formation of jurisdiction and judicial systems. The Russkaya Pravda regulated crimes that were universally seen as grave offences, such as murder, beatings, mutilations, and robb12eries. The Russkaya pravda provided little evidence of any distinction between civil and criminal law. All offenses were conceptualized as simple torts, and detailed schedules of compensation provided a framework within which all disputes could be settled. The law codes have no capital punishment associated with them, but instead the perpetrator was charged a fine to the Prince. This system corresponds to the social hierarchy of early Rus society, and is different from the law codes of the surrounding areas, such as Byzantium.

Yaroslav was responsible for introducing several more legislative documents in his life time, such as the Statue on Church Courts, but additional statues and laws were written into the Russkaya Pravda, and other documents, by Yaroslav’s children.
The central theme of the second main part of the Pravda was the protection of the Prince's own personnel and property. The Prince's personnel ranged from highest officials (the ognishchanin and the pod'ezdnoy) to slaves. The fine fo killing of high-ranking official was twice that imposed for a freeman (80 instead of 40 grivna). There is general agreement that this fine (vira, translated as bloodwite) was to be paid to the prince. Damage to the Prince's property (lifestock, boats, beehives, bordermarkers, etc) was also punished by a fine, usually called prodazha. A special official, the virnik or bloodwite collector, was in charge of collecting the fines imposed.
Russkaya Pravda defined different categories of citizens and their social status: noble people and privileged servants (Princes, warriors), then ordinary free citizens (dependent on the feudal lord), the lowest category — peasants, slaves, serfs.
There was a formation of a unified state and administration: posadniki - governors for management in cities (appointed by the Princes from among the senior members of the armed forces), governors - the leaders of military units, thousand (tysyatsky) - the highest officials in the decimal control system, land tax collectors, swordsmen, virniki, minor officials, mytniki, trade duties collectors. From the squad of the detachment corporation, the rulers of the Princely patrimonial economy — the tiuns and the headmen — stood out. The power of local feudal lords increased and a new authority appeared - feudal congress.
Feudal Congress addressed the issues of war and peace, land division, vassalage.

11-12th centuries The veche acquired its greatest power. It was associated with the increased role of cities and the urban population in the political life of the principalities. Veche meetings were widely spread in Russia with the weakening of Princely power during the period of feudal fragmentation. But gradually veche lost importance with the decline of the old trading cities in the central Dnieper River region. The political centre of Russia was shifting to the northeastern region, where newer cities lacked the strong urban classes capable of developing their own political organs and of successfully competing with the authority of the princes.
There was not well-established government in Kievan Rus’. For a long time there was desiatinnaia system, which preserved the system of military democracy and performed administrative, financial and other functions. Over time, it was displaced by the palace-patrimonial system of governance.

Prince's court was the management center. Grand Prince settled his armed forces on his lands for ruling there till they performed military service. At court there are various agencies to manage specific sectors of the economy. It was called posadnichestvo. Posadnik was a representative of the prince. He received one-third of the taxes levied on its content.
The princely palace was the center of the specific administration, and was ruled by the prince alone.
The patrimony of the boyars is the territory in which the palace (princely) administration and economy was entrusted to individual boyars, free servants or serfs. Princely officials were: voivode, tiuny, ognishchane, elders, etc. The palace control was presented as:
1) the palace;
2) the department of the Palace Routes, where the Routes are administrative and judicial authorities, they were headed by «worthy boyars» (huntsman, horseman and others).
In the folding of the local government system, the Feeding system played an important role, when representatives of the central government (governors, volosteli, etc.) salaries were not received from the treasury, but «fed» at the expense of the local population. Feeding was granted on the basis of certificates for Feeding. Feeding certificates gave the governors the right to rule. The Feed consisted of:
1) «inward feed» (at the start of their rule);
2) periodic (at Christmas, Easter, Petrov day);
3) trade duties from nonresident merchants;
4) judicial duties.
Feeders (Kormlenshchiki) were appointed for a year or two and were not interested in good management. Small landowners and landlords suffered especially from the Feeding system.
Revenues from the local government went into the pocket of the boyars, providing them with a great political weight. This caused discontent rising Dvoryanstvo (Russian nobility).

1245-1275 Mongol Census taken in Rus to streamline the collection of tribute.
The power of the Kiev princes more and more declined, the political significance of the landowning nobility grew.
1274 At the Vladimir Cathedral, differences in church law were eliminated and attention was paid to strengthening church discipline such as:
1. Limited simony - set out in san "on mzde" set a fixed fee for ordination;
2. Against violations listed in the rank that took place in some churches;
3. Against of drunkenness of clergyman;
The Russkaya pravda (Russian truth) survived in two fundamental redactions - Short and Expanded. The oldest of The Expanded Pravda, is extant in nearly 100 copies, included in the oldest Kormchaya kniga - Pilot's book (1282).

The gradual differentiation of criminal law from the civil law did take place in the Expanded redaction of the Russkaya pravda. Russkaya pravda devoted considerable space to inheritance law. Also of relevance to the development of civil law in medieval Russia is the Pravda's large codex on slavery. The statute defines the various types of slavery, conditions of enslavement, and a slave's legal responsibility.
Church guarantees flourished in the early Muscovite period. Churchmen, like many private landlords, enjoyed varying degrees of judicial immunity: no cleric would be subject to any secular court, and that certain offenses - principally offenses against marriage and morality - would be judged exclusively by churchmen. This way church had an immunity from secular jurisdiction for its own personnel and the exclusive right to adjudicate crimes of morality.
The Effects of the Mongol invasion on Administration and Institutions:
In the times after the Mongols had conquered the majority of Kievan Russia, veches ceased to exist in all cities except Novgorod, Pskov, and others in the northwestern regions. Veches in those cities continued to function and develop until Moscow itself subjugated them in the late 15th century.
Of great importance to the Mongol overlords was census tabulation, which allowed for the collection of taxes. To support censuses, the Mongols imposed a special dual system of regional administration headed by military governors, the basqaqi (баскаки), and/or civilian governors, the darugi (даругы). Essentially, the basqaqi were given the responsibility of directing the activities of rulers in the areas that were resistant or had challenged Mongol authority. The darugi were civilian governors that oversaw those regions of the empire that had submitted without a fight or that were considered already pacified to Mongol forces.
In the13th century the basqaqi were stationed in the conquered lands to subjugate the people and authorize even the day-to-day activities of the princes. Furthermore, in addition to ensuring the census, the basqaqi oversaw conscription of the local populace.
The 1st census taken by the Mongols occurred in 1257, just 17 years after their conquest of Rus’ lands. The population was divided into multiples of ten, a system that had been employed by the Chinese and later adopted by the Mongols who extended its use over the entirety of their empire; the census served as the primary purpose for conscription as well as for taxation. This practice was carried on by Moscow after it stopped acknowledging the Horde in 1480. The practice fascinated foreign visitors to Russia, to whom large-scale censuses were still unknown.

The Russian princes were required to go to Sarai to tender personal homage and to pay tribute to the khans. The Khans retained control over princely successions and exercised a veto over all major policy decisions. The collection of taxes was closely monitored by the Golden Horde through officials that were stationed in Russian towns. Russian princes were obliged to send recruits for the Mongol armies when ordered so by the Khans. In the beginning, the Mongols collected taxes from the Russians by means of their own agents.
The regional Princes fought against the Grand Princely power, who tried to constrain their political rights.
They concluded treaties among themselves, which established the boundaries of the principalities, the conditions for issuing runaway peasants and serfs,
rules of travel of merchants, and also determined the general line of foreign policy and diplomacy.

However, in the context of political fragmentation, these treaties were constantly violated.
Later, the Khans appointed one Russian ruler as Grand Prince and authorized him to maintain public order, law, and discipline.

The Effects of the Mongol invasion on Administration and Institutions (continued):
Existing sources and research indicates that the basqaqi had largely disappeared from the Rus’ lands by the mid-14th century, as the Rus more or less accepted the Mongol overlords. As the basqaqi left, the darugi replaced them in power. However, unlike the basqaqi, the darugi were not based in the confines of the lands of the Rus; in fact, they were stationed in Sarai, the old capital of the Golden Horde located not far from present-day Volgograd. The darugi functioned mainly as experts on the lands of the Rus’ and advised the khan accordingly. While the responsibility of collecting and delivering tribute and conscripts had belonged to the basqaqi, with the transition from the basqaqi to the darugi these duties were actually transferred to the princes themselves when the khan saw that the princes could complete such tasks.
One important institution that the basqaqi oversaw and maintained was the yam (a system of posts), which was constructed to provide food, bedding, horses, and either coaches or sleds, according to the season.
The system was quite efficient. Another report by emissary of the Hapsburgs stated that the yam system allowed to travel 500 kilometers (from Novgorod to Moscow) within 72 hours – much faster than anywhere in Europe. The yam system helped the Mongols to maintain tight control over their empire.

The character of the government of Muscovy took on an autocratic form under Ivan III which it had never had before. After the fall of Constantinople, Orthodox canonists were inclined to regard the Muscovite grand dukes as the successors of the emperors. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacred, while the boyars were absolutely dependent on the wll of the sovereign.
The land management system was feudalism. Feudal lords had broad judicial and administrative rights to the population and troops (consisting of service people - Dvoryanstvo nobility).
The church was a large feudal organization with its own court and administration system. The head of the church - the metropolitan - had his own «court», boyars, army, service people.
Similar was the organization of local churches under the authority of the metropolitan and ruled by archbishops and bishops.

The secular power has judged the church people
1497 It was during the reign of Ivan III that the new Russian Sudebnik, or law code, was compiled. The 1497 Sudebnik was Russia's first national law code. Unlike earlier immunity charters, which pertained only to a private landholder and his land or to particular localities, it promulgated rules of general application for Muscovite courts. The Code is usually interpreted as part of Ivan's policy of nationbuilding.
Sudebnik contains relatively little substantive law. This has encouraged speculation that the Russkaya pravda and other customary norms continued to have the force of law in the overwhelmingly agrarian society of early Muscovy.

The territory of the Russia was divided into provincial districts, that were called «uyezd» in Muscovy and the later Russian Empire. Each uyezd had several «volosts» that were subordinated to the uyezd city.
In Muscovy and in Russia from the 15th to the 18th centuries, a Prikaz (in modern Russian, prikaz literally means an «order») was an administrative, judicial, territorial, or executive office functioning on behalf of palace, civil, military, or church authorities. It was replacing the palace-patrimonial system of governance. The term usually suggests the functionality of a modern ministry, office or department.
Most of the prikazes were subordinated to the Boyar Duma. Some of them (palace prikazes) were subordinated to the 1st prikaz, which answered directly to the tsar.
The Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia had his own prikazes.

1535 The 1st currency reform in Russia was held, giving birth to Russia’s smallest coin, the kopeck, the first all-Russia currency. The reform was carried out by Princess Elena Glinskaya, mother of Tsar Ivan IV the Terrible.
1549-60 In his youth Ivan IV tried to govern in a progressive manner: he administered the country together with an informal government called the Elected Rada (a circle of confidants, young representatives of the aristocracy and the clergy).
The Rada implemented a series of important reforms, concentrated power in the hands of the tsar and limited the boyars' authority.
Reforms were carried out such as:
Military - the creation of Strelets troops to protect the sovereign and restore order in military service.
Financial - Entering a single state duty.
Ivan later dissolved Elected Rada (in 1560) and began governing alone.
1549 The 1st Zemsky Sobor. Zemsky sobor («assembly of the land»), in 16th- and 17th-century Russia, an advisory assembly convened by the tsar or the highest civil authority in power whenever necessary. It was generally composed of representatives from the ecclesiastical and monastic authorities, the boyar council, the landowning classes, and the urban freemen; elections for representatives and the sessions of each group were held separately.
1551 The Stoglavy Sobor was a church council, held in Moscow with the participation of Tsar Ivan IV, Metropolitan Macarius, and representatives of the Boyar Duma. The Tsar summoned a synod of the Russian Church to discuss the ritual practices that had grown up in Russia which did not conform with those of the Greek Church. The Stoglavy Sobor proclaimed the inviolability of church properties and the exclusive jurisdiction of church courts over ecclesiastical matters. By decisions of the Stoglavy Sobor, church ceremonies and duties in the whole territory of Russia were unified. The decisions of the Stoglavy Sobor that approved the native Russian rituals at the expense of those accepted in Greece and other Orthodox countries were cancelled by the Moscow Sobor of 1666–1667, leading to a great schism of the Russian church known as the Raskol.
1564-72 Oprichnina regime. Russia was failing in the Livonian war and in the fight against the Crimea, and the Tsar suspected the boyars of treason. The term oprichnina refers to this reign of terror, which was conducted by the oprichniki, members of the tsar’s new court, who were primarily drawn from the lower gentry and foreign population. The policy reduced the boyars’ political power, disrupted the Russian economy, and contributed to the centralization of the Muscovite state. After 1572, when the oprichniki were disbanded, the term dvor (court) replaced oprichnina.
1597 A full enslavement of peasants. A temporary (Forbidden years) and later an open-ended prohibition for peasants to leave their masters was introduced by the ukase of 1597 under the reign of Boris Godunov, which took away the peasants' right to free movement around Yuri's Day, binding the vast majority of the Russian peasantry in full serfdom. These also defined the so-called fixed years (urochniye leta), or the 5-year time frame for search of the runaway peasants.

1607 A new ukase (order) defined sanctions for hiding and keeping the runaway peasants: the fine had to be paid to the state and pozhiloye – to the previous owner of the peasant.
1649 When the Time of Troubles was over, the Romanov dynasty began to rule the country taking active steps in lawmaking. In the mid-17th century there was a need to systematize orders and legislate on new socio-political system. In 1649 the Zemsky Sobor adopted a new code of laws of the Russian state — the Council Code of Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (Sobornoye Ulozheniye).
This unique code of laws of the Russian Empire developed and adopted by the Zemsky Sobor of 1649 as a result of the confrontation of different social groups of the Russian society, determined the law and order and social relations in the country during 200 years.

965 articles united into 25 chapters of the new code of laws in contrast to the previous documents of the kind contained the norms not just of the procedural law but also of the state, civil, administrative and criminal law. The code determined for the first time the status of the head of state, the order of the government service, the types of the state and penal crimes.
The code had approved the serfdom in the country, having abolished the fixed years and declared the search for the run-away serfs unlimited. From that time on peasants’ serfdom became hereditary and their property was acknowledged as the one belonging to the landowner.
All the tradespeople were now registered in their trading quarters and became a taxed estate. However it had a privilege to undertake the commercial and industrial activity.
The code seriously limited the rights of the clergy. Henceforth it was subject to trial without special preferences and could no more acquire ancestral lands for the exception of a patriarch and his retainers. The Monastery office was established to administrate the former ancestral lands of monasteries and clergy.
Law Code of 1649 carefully retained the distinction between the pomestie (Dvoryanstvo) and the votchina (Boyars), but the distinctions were fading in reality. During the first half of the 17th century, the pomestie essentially became hereditary property, but service still was compulsory and holders could not freely alienate it.
1653 In the New Trade Charter internal duties were abolished and uniform duties were established for merchants.
1654 Bureau of Secret Affairs (Prikaz Tainykh Del) was established. It supervised other central government offices, ambassadors, and military governors of cities and regimental military commanders. It directed important political investigations, organized expeditions to seek out valuable mineral resources throughout Russia, and administered the manufacture of weapons and cannons.
1652-67 Nikon's reforms — the beginning of schism. Patriarch Nikon, desiring to change the ancient traditions, began to impose new ritual and liturgical practices onto Russia’s Church Together with Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich, they decided to remake Russia’s Church along the lines of her contemporary Greek counterpart.
Ecclesiastical literature was the first target of reform. In 1654, Nikon summoned a synod to re-examine the service-books revised by the Patriarch Joasaf, and the majority of the synod decided that «the Greeks should be followed rather than our own ancients».
Nikon's patriarchal staff descended with crushing force upon those with whom he disagreed. Although they apparently consisted of mere external rituals, Nikon's reforms attacked the very essence of Orthodoxy in the view of many of his contemporaries. The opponents of the new reforms claimed to stand for the old faith and took the name «Old Believers». Despite their efforts, they failed to reverse the reforms. An international Orthodox church council met in Moscow in 1666-1667 to confirm the Nikonian reforms and anathematize the recalcitrant Old Believers.
1667 The Novgorod charter was adopted, which defined additional benefits for foreign trade.
1682 Mestnichestvo, by which a noble was appointed to a service position on the basis of his family’s rank in the hierarchy of boyars, was abolished.

Peter's I reforms
Military reform:
Military reform was designed to create a powerful permanently standing army and navy, was the central goal of all of Peter the Great's monumental reform:
- the creation of a navy that he used to great effect against the Ottomans in the sea of Azov and the Swedes in the Baltic during the Great Northern War;
- the creation of the Guard's Officer Corps, replaced by officers with General Staff training during the nineteenth century;
- a twenty-five year service requirement for peasants selected by lot to be soldiers;
- his codifying military's existence by personally writing a set of instructions in 1716 for the army and 1720 for the navy.

Peter I formed a modern regular army built withanew aspect: officers not necessarily from nobility, as talented commoners were given promotions that eventually included (such promotions were later abolished during the reign of Catherine the Great). Conscription of peasants and townspeople was based on quota system, per settlement. Initially it was based on the number of households, later it was based on the population numbers.
1711 A new state body was established by ukaz — The Governing Senate. All its members were appointed by Tsar Peter I from among his own associates and originally consisted of 10 people. All appointments and resignations of senators occurred by personal imperial decrees. The senate did not interrupt the activity and was the permanent operating state body.
Administrative reform:
1708 Old national subdivisions (uyezds) were abolished and established in their place eight governorates (guberniyas): Moscow, Ingermanland, Kiev, Smolensk, Archangelgorod, Kazan, Azov, and Siberian.
1713 Landrats were established (from the German word for «national council») in each of the governorates, staffed by between eight and twelve professional civil servants, who assisted a royally-appointed governor.
1717 Peter I established nine collegia or boards which replaced old Prikazs. Each collegium had a President and Vice-President, but some Vice-Presidents were never appointed.
1722 Table of Ranks - a formal list of ranks in the Russian military, government, and royal court. The Table of Ranks established a complex system of titles and honorifics, each classed withanumber (1 to 14) denoting a specific level of service or loyalty to the Tsar. With minimal modifications, the Table of Ranks remained in effect until the Russian Revolution of 1917.
Also City, Class structure and Judicial reforms were carried out.
Financial reforms: monopolizing certain strategic industries, such as salt, vodka, oak, and tar. Peter also taxed many Russian cultural customs (such as bathing, fishing, beekeeping, and wearing beards) and issued tax stamps for paper goods.
Poll tax replaced household tax on cultivated land. Previously, peasants had skirted the tax by combining several households into one estate; now, however, each peasant was assessed individually for a tax of 70 kopeks, paid in cash. This was significantly heavier than the taxes it replaced, and it enabled the Russian state to expand its treasury almost sixfold between 1680 and 1724. (Peter's government was constantly in dire need of money for Great Northern War and other wars). Peter also pursued proto-protectionist trade policies, placing heavy tariffs on imports and trade to maintain a favorable environment for Russian-made goods.
Church reform: instead of being governed by a patriarch or metropolitan, the government of the church came under the control of a committee known as the Most Holy Governing Synod, which was composed both of bishops and lay bureaucrats appointed by the Emperor. The Holy Governing Synod was administered by a lay director, or Ober-Procurator. The Synod changed in composition over time, but basically it remained a committee of churchmen headed by a lay appointee of the Emperor.
Social reforms: education reform - civilian and military schools were opened, the Academy of Sciences was created; cultural; Medical - many new hospitals were opened.
Philanthropy reforms:
Legislation specified the categories of population entitled to relief - decrepit and disabled soldiers, cripples, illegitimate babies, and orphans. Almsgiving in the streets was prohibited on pain of a fine. Secular hospitals, almshouses and orphanages were established similar to the charity institutions in Europe. The 1721 decree established that 1% should be deducted from the allowances of 'people in any positions, excepting soldiers' so as to maintain hospitals and to provide for the patients.

Elizaveta Petrovna was the successor to the ideas of her father Peter the Great. Under Elizaveta, Russia's export economy blossomed, which, beginning in the early 1740s, systematically expanded the sale of agricultural goods abroad. The first noble land bank was established in 1753. Landlords could borrow money from the bank at below market rates.
The beginning of the epoch of the Enlightenment and the reorganization of military educational institutions are associated with the rule of Elizaveta 1 Petrovna.
1744 Elizaveta issued a decree on the extension of the network of primary schools. First gymnasiums were opened in Moscow (1755) and Kazan (1758).
1755 The Moscow University was founded.
1757 The Academy of Arts was founded.

Reforms of Catherine II.
Catherine's major influences on her adopted country were in expanding Russia's borders and continuing the process of Westernisation begun by Peter the Great. During her reign she extended the Russian empire southwards and westwards, adding territories which included the Crimea, Belarus and Lithuania . Agreements with Prussia and Austria led to three partitions of Poland, in 1772, 1793, and 1795, extending Russia's borders well into central Europe.
1767 The Legislative Commission was convened to codify Russia's laws and in the process modernised Russian life. Catherine presented the commission with her Nakaz, (or 'Instruction'), a strikingly liberal document that presented the empress’s vision of the ideal government. This work was widely distributed in Europe and caused a sensation because it called for a legal system far in advance of the times. It proposed a system providing equal protection under law for all persons and emphasized prevention of criminal acts rather than harsh punishment for them.
1785 «Charter to the Nobility» established Dvoryanstvo nobility as a separate estate in Russian society and assured their privileges (one of the reasons was Catherine's heavy reliance on the nobility to control the country after the Pugachev Rebellion of 1774-1775). Therefore the serfs status and rights declined further.
Catherine's main interests were in education and culture. She read widely and corresponded with many of the prominent thinkers of the era, including Voltaire and Diderot. She was a patron of the arts, literature and education and acquired an art collection which now forms the basis of the Hermitage Museum.
Philanthropy reforms:
1763 The Decree to create foundling homes in Moscow and St Petersburg. The guberniias (provinces) allowed to individuals and associations to create specialised charitable institutions, including almshouses, insane almshouses, orphanages, workhouses, etc.

Paul’s 1 reforms.
There was probably no sphere in state affairs which was not influenced by the Paul I. Paul passed an incredible number of new laws – 595 in 1797, 509 in 1798, 330 in 1799, 469 in 1800. Thus, Paul averaged 42 decrees of new laws per month, where Catherine II had averaged only 12.
Army reforms: Paul strove to reshape the Russian army in the Prussian fashion, introducing strict discipline and ridiculous wigs for soldiers. These reforms fed discontent among officers and ordinary soldiers alike.
1797 A law of hereditary succession to the crown in the male line, and afterwards in the female, instead of leaving it to the caprice of the reigning sovereign.
1797 A manifesto on serfs and landlords, which was a starting point for easing serfdom’s rules.
Serfs’ forced labour for their landlord on Sundays was prohibited. For the first time in Russia history, peasants could be sworn in as witnesses. A special peasantry department was set up, the state peasants received plots of land, and all peasants were granted the right to appeal court decisions.
1797 The Department of the Institutions of Empress Mariathe - the largest charitable organisation was founded.
The Old Believers were allowed to practice and build their own churches.

Alexander's I reforms.
2 factors had a big impact on Czar Alexander I reign: the Enlightenment education he received from his grandmother, Catherine the Great, and the Napoleonic Wars . Alexander was brought up during the Enlightenment period of the late 18th century. As a result, the future czar was familiar with the most liberal, up-to-date views on European politics, history and philosophy.
After the darkness into which Paul had plunged Russia, Alexander wanted his reign to be a happy one and dreamed of great and necessary reforms. He formed the Private Committee (Neglasny Komitet). Its avowed purpose was to frame «good laws, which are the source of the well-being of the Nation».
Public education: involved the formation of many schools of different types, institutions for training teachers, and the founding of three new universities.

1802 Imperial Philanthropic Society was founded, and a nation-wide network of charitable establishments developed. The initiative in the development of philanthropy belonged to the elite strata of society, to the educated nobility. The upsurge of patriotic feelings in the course of the 1812 war against Napoleon resulted in active collection of funds for the wounded.
The idea of the abolition of serfdom.
The institution of serfdom was, in the tsar’s own words, «a degradation» that kept Russia in a disastrously backward state. But to liberate the serfs (75% of the population), would arouse the hostility of their noble masters. Serfdom prevented modernization of the country, which was at least a century behind the rest of Europe. Despite the humanitarian ideas, Alexander lacked the energy necessary for the abolition of serfdom.
Preparation of a reforms by M. Speransky. The State Council was established - the legislative body since 1810. Alexander I gave Constitution to Poland and Bessarabia. A draft of the Russian Constitution and a program for the abolition of serfdom was prepared.
1820s The Final Decade of Alexander rule marked a turning point for the tsar. He had become religious; he read the Bible daily and prayed often. He left everything in Arakcheyev’s hands («arakcheevschina»). The establishment of military settlements - soldiers (yesterday’s peasants) were forced, along with military service, to engage in peasant labor. In the military settlements reigned tough barracks discipline and half-prison orders. For Russia, it was a period of reaction, obscurantism, and struggle against real and imagined subversion.

Nicholas I reforms.
Nicholas I often considered the personification of classic autocracy. For his reactionary policies, he has been called the emperor who froze Russia for 30 years. The new regime became preeminently one of militarism and bureaucracy. Thirty years on the throne earned him a reputation as the Gendarme of Europe.
The importance of the Committee of Ministers, the State Council, and the Senate decreased in the course of his reign.
Third Department. This political police (heads of the Third Department — Count Benckendorff and Prince Orlov) acted as the autocrat’s main weapon against subversion and revolution and as Nicholas principal agency for controlling the behaviour of his subjects and for distributing punishments and rewards among them.
Peasant reform - the abolition of the physical punishments of landowners and the reduction of taxes.
1835 «The Code of laws of the Russian Empire» intended to replace the outdated Ulozhenie of 1649. The Code was elaborated by a prominent statesman M. Speransky. The Code of laws had two levels: the national Code of laws and the codes of local laws (civil law sources). The Code of laws contained 42 thousand articles united into 8 sections which comprised 15 volumes.
Industrial reforms - there was a growth of factories and plants, construction of roads, and the 1st railway was opened in 1837.
In his final Years Nicholas I, who was frightened by European revolutions, became completely reactionary. During the last years of the reign the emperor’s once successful foreign policy collapsed, leading to isolation and to the tragedy of the Crimean War.

Reforms of Alexander II.
1861-74 Alexander II, «Tsar Liberator», decreed major reforms of Russia's social, judicial, educational, financial, administrative, and military systems. His program came to be known as the Great Reforms. These acts liberated roughly 40 percent of the population from bondage, created an independent judicial system, introduced self-governing councils in towns and rural areas, eased censorship, transformed military service, strengthened banking, granted more autonomy to universities, greater openness (glasnost) in official and civil affairs, and civic engagement of all members of society.
The overall goals were to accelerate economic development and restore Russia's military dominance as a Great Power after its sobering defeat in the Crimean War (1853–1856).
1861 Emancipation of proprietary/seigniorial serfs and establishment of volost courts. The reform effectively abolished serfdom throughout the Russian Empire. The 1861 Emancipation Manifesto proclaimed the emancipation of the serfs on private estates and of the domestic (household) serfs.
1862 State Treasury created; state budget hence forth published;
1863 Emancipation of appanage peasants; univer sity statute; abolition of dehumanizing corporal punishments in military;
1864, 1870 Zemstvo statute; Municipal Reform; judicial reform.
With Zemstvo the process of power decentralisation became one of the dominant features of the Russia's modernisation. The self-governing municipalities (city dumas and municipal boards) in the big cities and Zemstvo self-government in the rural districts took upon themselves the task of securing all aspects of life of local communities, including poor relief: hospitals, orphanages etc.
Despite a fast growth of charity funds, the level of development of philanthropy in Russia was very low by comparison with the countries of the West (33 times less than Great Britain).
1865 Temporary regulations on censorship;
1866 Emancipation of state peasants; creation of State Bank;
1874 Universal military service statute.
As a consequence of the Great Reforms, the nobility lost two key defining features of their status: ownership of other human beings who provided them free labor and freedom from military service.
As the zemstvos and reformed courts took root, landowning gentry also lost their dominant roles in rural life, even finding that their former serfs could sit in judgment over them in jury trials. Emancipated peasants, however frustrated by the terms of the land reform, took advantage of the courts and zemstvos to pursue their interests and engage in public life. Many became landowners themselves.
Expanded educational opportunities through zemstvo schools, universities and institutes, and military service increased literacy among the peasantry and stimulated the growth of professions among the other social estates. The Russian Empire continued to be a predominantly agricultural, illiterate, and rural society (over 80 percent of the population still lived in the countryside in 1897), but state-sponsored industrialization and urbanization provided opportunities for all layers of society.
The Great Reforms , however, did not alter the political structure of the empire. The Russian tsar remained an autocrat, above the law and without any formal constraints on his personal will.
The tension between the social and economic transformations the Great Reforms introduced and the persistent patriarchal paternalism of the autocratic system worsened

Alexander III reforms.
The 3 principles of Alexander III rule: Orthodoxy, autocracy, and narodnost.
Alexander III condemned the influence of Western culture, ideas, and liberalist reforms supported by his father.
He believed that Russia had lost its domineering role in Eastern Europe due to Western liberalism.
Alexander's political ideal was a nation containing only one nationality, language, religion and form of administration; and he did his utmost to prepare for the realization of this ideal (the Policy of «Russification») by imposing the Russian language and Russian schools on his German, Polish and other non-Russian subjects, by fostering Eastern Orthodoxy at the expense of other religions, by persecuting Jews and by destroying the remnants of German, Polish and Swedish institutions in the outlying provinces.
1782 State for foreign affairs and a separate Foreign Office with the departments grouped into two categories: political and non-political.
All the internal reforms that he initiated were intended to correct what he considered the too liberal tendencies of the previous reign.
In his opinion, Russia was to be saved from anarchical disorders and revolutionary agitation not by the parliamentary institutions and so-called liberalism of western Europe.

Nicholas II reforms.
1896 Major currency reform by S. Witte to place the Russian ruble on the gold standard. This led to increased investment activity and an increase in the inflow of foreign capital.
1897 A law limiting working hours in enterprises by S. Witte.
1898 Commercial and industrial taxes reformed by S. Witte.

The reforms of Nicholas II.
1905 The first representative body of legislative power was created as result of the revolution – the State Duma. The State Council of the Russian Empire became the second chamber.
1906-17 P. Stolypin land reform in order to restructure the peasant land tenure system. They were instituted in the wake of the Revolution of 1905 in an effort to deal with the ongoing agrarian problem. Its aim was to encourage industrious peasants to acquire their own land, and ultimately to create a class of prosperous, conservative, small farmers that would be a stabilizing influence in the countryside and would support the autocracy.

The reforms after Great October Socialistic Revolution.

1918-21 War communism: applied by the Bolsheviks during the period of the Russian Civil War (1918–20). The policy’s chief features were the expropriation of private business and the nationalization of industry throughout Soviet Russia, and the forced requisition of surplus grain and other food products from the peasantry by the state. Money had been abolished. The policy of War Communism brought the national economy to the point of total breakdown.
1921-28 NEP (new economic policy) - the economic policy of the government, representing a temporary retreat from its previous policy of extreme centralization and doctrinaire socialism. The Kronshtadt Rebellion of 1921 convinced the Communist Party and its leader, Vladimir Lenin, of the need to retreat from socialist policies in order to maintain the party’s hold on power.
These measures included the return of most agriculture, retail trade, and small-scale light industry to private ownership and management while the state retained control of heavy industry, transport, banking, and foreign trade. Money was reintroduced. The peasantry were allowed to own and cultivate their own land, while paying taxes to the state. The NEP reintroduced a measure of stability to the economy and allowed the Soviet people to recover from years of war.
1924 1st Constitution of the USSR. Constitution legitimized the Creation of the USSR between the Russian SFSR, the Ukrainian SSR, the Byelorussian SSR, and the Transcaucasian SFSR to form the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR). The USSR was in charge of: the army, foreign policy and trade, economic planning, the monetary system, civil and criminal legislation, labor, health and education laws.
1928-90 Five-Year Plans - method of planning economic growth over limited periods, through the use of quotas. The Soviet state planning committee Gosplan developed these plans based on the theory of the productive forces that formed part of the ideology of the Communist Party for development of the Soviet economy. Fulfilling the current plan became the watchword of Soviet bureaucracy.
1936 Second USSR Constitution, also known as the Stalin Constitution, redesigned the government of the Soviet Union with the proclamation of the victory of socialism in the USSR and the consolidation of the leadership of the Communist Party.
It nominally granted all manner of rights and freedoms, and spelled out a number of democratic procedures such as: freedoms to work, to rest, to education, freedom of speech, press, rallies, street demonstrations, the integrity of the person and home, the privacy of correspondence.
In practice, by asserting the «leading role» of the Communist Party, it cemented the complete control of the party and its leader, Joseph Stalin.
1965-70 Soviet economic reform, sometimes called the Kosygin reform: This liberman reform were a set of planned changes in the economy of the Soviet Union. A centerpiece of these changes was the introduction of profitability and sales as the two key indicators of enterprise success. Some of an enterprise's profits would go to reward workers and expand operations; most would go to the central budget.
1977 3rd Constitution of the USSR: «the constitution of developed socialism». The preamble stated that «the aims of the dictatorship of the proletariat having been fulfilled, the Soviet state has become the state of the whole people.» Compared with previous constitutions, the Brezhnev Constitution extended the scope of the constitutional regulation of society.

«Perestroika reforms».
Perestroika was a political movement for reformation within the Communist Party of the Soviet Union during the 1980s and 1990s and is widely associated with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev and his glasnost (meaning openness) policy reform.
1990 Dissolution of the USSR and the Establishment of Independent Republics.
The three Baltic states were the first to declare their independence, claiming continuity from the original states that existed prior to their annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940. The Baltic states focused on European Union and NATO membership.
1990 The Declaration of State Sovereignty of the Russian SFSR was a political act of the Russian SFSR (Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic), then part of the Soviet Union, which marked the beginning of constitutional reform in Russia. It proclaimed the sovereignty of the Russian SFSR and the intention to establish a democratic constitutional state within a liberalized Soviet Union. The declaration also states the following:
Priority of the constitution and laws of the Russian SFSR over legislation of the Soviet Union (sovereignty).
Equal legal opportunities for all citizens, political parties and public organizations (equality before the law).
The principle of separation of legislative, executive and judicial powers.
The need to significantly expand the rights of the autonomous republics, regions, districts, territories of Russia (federalism).
1991 The Belovezha Accords are the agreement that declared the USSR as effectively ceasing to exist and established the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) in its place as a successor entity. It was signed by the leaders of three of the four republics-signatories of the Treaty on the Creation of the USSR.
1990-95 Radical transformation. Price liberalization. «Shock therapy». Voucher privatization. Dollarization of the economy. Rising prices and falling levels of the population. Unemployment. «Black» market. Criminalization.
1993 Constitution of the RSFSR. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-party system with executive power exercised by the government, headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed by the President with the parliament's approval.The constitution provides for welfare protection, access to social security, pensions, free health care, and affordable housing; it also guarantees local self-governance.
1995-99 Adjustment of the reform course and attempts at stabilization. De-industrialization and dependence on world energy prices.
Financial pyramids and mortgage auctions. The crisis of education and science. Religious renaissance.
1998 The Russian Default , when the Russian stock, bond, and currency markets collapsed as a result of investor fears that the government would devalue the ruble, default on domestic debt, or both. Annual yields on ruble- denominated bonds were more than 200 percent.

864 soon after the calling of Vikings in 862, lots of Novgorod residents were unhappy with a despotic rule of Rurik and by the actions of his relatives.
Uprising for liberties was led by Vadim Brave and was lost. Vadim was killed by Rurik, along with many of his adherents.

945 The revolt of Drevlians against Igor's obligation to pay tribute.
The Drevlians were a neighboring tribe with which the growing Kievan Rus’ empire had a complex relationship. They stopped paying tribute upon Oleg’s death and instead gave money to a local warlord. Confronted by Igor’s larger army, the Drevlians backed down and paid tribute to Kievan Rus. As Igor and his army rode home, however, he decided the payment was not enough and returned, with only a small envoy, seeking more tribute. Upon his arrival in their territory, the Drevlians murdered Igor. According to the Byzantine chronicler Igor’s death was caused by a gruesome act of torture in which he was «captured by them, tied to tree trunks, and torn in two.»
Igor’s son Svyatoslav was only three years old at that time, so his widow Olga became a regent in 945.

The Drevlians now saw Kievan Rus’ as an easy target and sent envoys to Olga to make her marry the Drevlian Prince Mal.
Olga's revenge:
Act 1. The Drevlians sent 20 of their envoys in two boats to meet Olga in Kiev. She gave them honorable welcome. Then the boats with all the men inside were tossed into the trench and they were all buried alive.
Act 2. Olga sent a message to the Drevlians that she is ready to marry Prince Mal but needs a delegation of 20 of their most distinguished men to persuade her people as well. The delegation was sent and Olga gave them a warm welcome. After their arrival, Olga first offered them to bathe in a fancy bathhouse to relax. After the men had entered, Olga ordered the doors be locked and the building was set on fire. All the men were burned alive.
Act3. To the rest of the Drevlians, Olga offered to come to them if they organized a funeral feast for her husband. She arrived at the feast in an apparent mourning, then waited until the Drevlians were all drunk and had her soldiers kill them. All 5,000 were slaughtered.
Act 4. While the remainder of the people were begging for mercy, Olga said she will impose an easy punishment on them: she needed just three pigeons and three sparrows from each household. The people, thankful for the reasonable terms, provided the birds. Olga then ordered her soldiers to attach a tiny piece of sulfur wrapped in cloth to every single pigeon and sparrow. At night all the birds returned to their homes and the whole town was set to fire that killed everyone.

In 11 century the first attempts of Novgorod to gain independence from the Old Russian state took place.
Novgorod boyars with the support of the urban population wanted to get rid of the tax burden of Kiev and create their own army.
1024 An uprising of Volkhvy (Slavic druids) in Suzdal lands in response to a crop failure and drought. Grand Prince Yaroslav the Wise was forced to intervene to end the rebellion.
1068 The Kiev uprising against Grand Prince Iziaslav Yaroslavich of Kiev in the aftermath of a Kievan Rus’ defeat to Polovtsy. The Kievans held a veche and sent the following communication to the Prince Iziaslav: «The Polovtsy have spread over the country. O Prince, give us arms and horses, that we may offer them combat once more.» Iziaslav, however, paid no heed to this request.

The Kievan mob ransacked the general (voevoda) house, they then drove out Iziaslav and placed Sviatoslav on the Kievan throne in hopes that he could stop the Polovtsy. Iziaslav fled to Poland, where he was supported with arms, with which he returned to Kiev the following year and took back the throne.

1071 The Rostov Uprising led by Volkhy pagan priests as a result of famine in Yaroslavl.

1097 Liubech congress of princes - a conference of the princes of Kyivan Rus’, convened at the initiative of Volodymyr Monomakh. Its purpose was to end the conflicts among the princes and to unite them in the struggle against the Polovtsy. The congress abolished the seniority principle of succession and adopted the principle of patrimony, whereby each prince would possess the lands ruled by his father. The congress thereby transformed a formally unitary state into a group of independent states joined together in a unique kind of federation, in which issues of common interest were settled at princely congresses.

1113 Kiev Rebellion was an antifeudal uprising of the urban lower classes of Kiev, the slaves (kholopy), and perhaps the rural population of the Kievan region. The rebellion was caused by dissatisfaction with the policies of Prince Sviatopolk Iziaslavich, the rising cost of bread, and starvation and was directed against the abuses of the prince’s administrators, who speculated in bread and salt, and against the enslavement of free citizens by moneylenders.
The rebellion flared up immediately upon the death of Sviatopolk. The rebels destroyed the palace of the boyar Putiata Vyshatich and attacked the holdings of the Jewish moneylenders.
The frightened Kiev boyars were able to persuade Vladimir Vsevolodovich Monomakh to become prince of Kiev. Monomakh succeeded in placating the insurgents by promulgating laws that made some concessions to the rebels, known as the Statute of Vladimir Monomakh of 1113.

1136 Novgorod declared its independence from princely power, and it remained a sovereign city until conquered by Muscovy (Moscow).
The reason for it was the decline of power by Kiev and disintgreation of Kievan Rus.
Novgorod was governed by an oligarchy of great trading boyar families who controlled the exploitation of the hinterland. They chose (from among themselves) a mayor, a military commander, and a council of aldermen. There was in addition a veche (council), a town meeting.
A major role in politics was played by the archbishop, who after 1156 controlled the lands and incomes previously owned by the Kievan princes and who appears throughout Novgorod’s history as a powerful, often independent figure.

1173-76 Vsevolod the Big Nest took part in struggle against the powerful boyars of Rostov and Suzdal. In 1176 Vsevolod succeeded him in Vladimir. He promptly subjugated the boyars and systematically raided the Volga peoples, notably Volga Bulgaria.
Vsevolod showed little mercy to those who disobeyed his commands. In 1180 and 1187 he punished the princes of Ryazan by ousting them from their lands.

1207 Vsevolod the Big Nest burnt to the ground both Ryazan and Belgorod (see 12th century).

1320s Absorbing of duchy of Vladimir-Suzdal by Grand Principality of Moscow (Muscovite Rus).

The Tver Uprising was the first major uprising against the Mongol invasion of Rus' by the people of Vladimir. It was brutally suppressed by the joint efforts of the Golden Horde, Muscovy and Suzdal. At the time, Muscovy and Vladimir were involved in a rivalry for dominance in the northeast of Kievan Rus', and Vladimir's total defeat effectively ended the quarter-century struggle for power. The Golden Horde later became an enemy of Muscovy, and Russia did not become free of Mongol influence until the Great stand on the Ugra river in 1480, more than a century later.
1348 Pskov achieved full independence as a republic.

Pskov is one of the oldest Russian towns. The town became important in the Middle Ages as a centre for trade between the interior of Russia and the Hanseatic seaports of the Baltic.
Pskov was under the protection of the city of Novgorod in the 11th and 12th centuries. In the latter century monasteries were established on the left bank of the Velikaya. It became independent from Novgorod and established an aristocratic oligarchy.

Middle of the 14th and 1st half of the 15th century
The 1st Russian heretical sect, the Strigolniki, was established in Pskov and later in Novgorod and Tver. This movement critisized corrupt priests, their overeating, overdrinking, ignorance and bribery. The heresy did not refuse the practices of the Orthodox church. They had attacked the demoralization of priests and only refused the rituals which were held by the decadent priests.
In 1375, Ieaders of the heresy, Karp, Nikita, and another were punished with death, but the heresy survived.

Late in the 14th century
The Golden Horde disintegrated into the independent Tatar khanates of Kazan and Astrakhan on the Volga River, Sibir in western Siberia, and Crimea.
(Russia conquered the first three of these khanates in the 16th century, but the Crimean khanate became a vassal state of the Ottoman Turks until it was annexed to Russia by Catherine the Great in 1783.)

1478, 1485 Annexation of the Novgorod Republic in 1478 and the Grand Duchy of Tver in 1485 by Grand Principality of Moscow.
Alarmed at the growing power of Moscow, Novgorod had negotiated with the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and Rus in the hope of placing itself under the protection of the neighboring Catholic Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth Casimir IV, King of Poland and Grand Prince of Lithuania, against the increasing attacks by the Muscovite dynasty, a would-be alliance that was proclaimed by the Moscow rulers as an act of apostasy from Orthodoxy. Ivan took the field against Novgorod in 1470, and after his generals had twice defeated the forces of the republic — at the Battle of Shelon River and on the Northern Dvina, both in the summer of 1471 — the Novgorodians were forced to sue for peace.

Ivan visited Novgorod several times in the next several years, persecuting a number of pro-Lithuanian boyars and confiscating their lands.
In 1477 he marched against them. Deserted by Casimir and surrounded on every side by the Moscow armies, Novgorod ultimately recognized Ivan's direct rule over the city and its vast hinterland in 1478. Ivan dispossessed Novgorod of more than four-fifths of its land. Subsequent revolts (1479–1488) were punished by the removal en masse of the richest and most ancient families of Novgorod to Moscow, Vyatka, and other north-eastern Rus' cities.
The rival republic of Pskov owed the continuance of its own political existence to the readiness with which it assisted Ivan against its ancient enemy.

The other principalities were eventually absorbed by conquest, purchase, or marriage contract: The Principality of Yaroslavl in 1463, Rostov in 1474, Tver in 1485, and Vyatka 1489.
After annexing the multinational Viatka Republic in 1489, Moscow laid formal claim to all Udmurt lands but controlled only the north.

1491 Skhariya the Jew, the founder of The Thought of Skhariya the Jew, or the Heresy of the Judaizers (Zhidovstvuyushchiye) was executed in Novgorod by the order of Ivan III.
Heresy of the Judaizers was a religious concept that existed in Novgorod the Great and Grand Duchy of Moscow in the second half of the 15th century and marked the beginning of a new era of schism in Russia.
Their beliefs arbitrarily presupposed their adherence to Judaism, even though most of Skhariya's followers had been ordinary Russians of Russian Orthodox faith and low-ranking Orthodox clergy and had never confessed Judaism.

1537 Andrei Staritsky’s rebellion, uncle Ivan the Terrible, against Elena Glinskaya. Adult uncle was a dynastic rival for the young Ivan. He was thrown into prison and soon died of starvation in prison.
1547 A large revolt of Moscow population. The reason was the grandiose fire that destroyed a significant part of the city.
Instability of the supreme power in the country gave rise to feudal lords' tyranny in the provinces, what resulted in upgrowth of people's discontent and even overt revolts in a number of cities. This revolt was suppressed by the government. One of the Tsar's uncles - Y. Glinsky was lacerated, the houses of the others were plundered.
With a view to strengthen the central power the 17-years old Grand Duke Ivan was recognized the Tsar of Russia and thus was formally equated with the West-European emperors.

1565-72 The oprichnina was a state policy implemented by Tsar Ivan the Terrible.
The late 1560s under Ivan the Terrible were rife with conspiracies and violence. Ivan's mental state was continually deteriorating and was exacerbated by his wars with Sweden, Lithuania, and Poland.
Oprichnina was run by the Tsar's own guards, the oprichniks. Drawn mainly from the lower levels of the military and society, they were rewarded for their services with land, property and payments. The result was a small army of individuals whose entire livelihood was owed to Tsar's generosity and whose loyalty was without question.
The oprichniks are frequently portrayed as unhinged black-robed killers, who slaughtered people just as frivolously as they killed dogs whose severed heads they carried around as a symbol of their 'snapping at the heels' of the Tsar's enemies. They carried around brooms as another representation of their campaign to sweep away traitors.
Using forged documents as a pretext, thousands were hanged, drowned or deported, while the buildings and countryside were plundered and destroyed. Estimates of the death toll vary between 15,000 and 60,000 people.

1570 The Massacre of Novgorod was an attack launched by Tsar Ivan the Terrible's oprichniki on the city of Novgorod. The sheer number of casualties combined with the extreme level of violent cruelty makes this campaign possibly the most vicious in the brutal legacy of the oprichnina.
In 1569 the tsar evicted several thousands from Novgorod and the neighboring town of Pskov in an attempt to avoid a betrayal from boyars, ц the Tsar believed was planning to ally with Lithuania.
1578-80 The beginning of Russian conquest of Siberia.
The Russian conquest of Siberia took place in the 16th and 17th centuries, when the Khanate of Sibir had become a loose political structure of vassalages that were being undermined by the activities of Russian explorers.
The conquest began when some 540 Cossacks under Yermak Timofeyevich invaded the territory of the Voguls, subjects to the Khan of Siberia. They were accompanied by 300 Lithuanian and German slave laborers, whom the Stroganovs had purchased from the tsar.

1601–03 The Russia's worst famine in terms of proportional effect on the population, killing perhaps two million people, about 30% of the Russian people. The famine compounded the Time of Troubles, when the country was unsettled politically and later invaded by the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The many deaths contributed to social disruption and helped bring about the downfall of Boris Godunov.
1606-1607 Bolotnikov rebellion. The uprising was part of the Time of Troubles in Russia. Bolotnikov led rebel forces loyal to Tsar Dmitry against the usurper Tsar Vasily Shuisky. Wrongly believing that Dmitry I had escaped Shuisky's assassins, the rebels essentially renewed the civil war that had brought Tsar Dmitry II to power.

1648 Salt riot: The Moscow uprising of 1648 started because of the government's replacement of different taxes with a universal salt tax for the purpose of replenishing the state treasury after the Time of Troubles. This drove up the price of salt, leading to violent riots in the streets of Moscow. The riot was an early challenge to the reign of Alexei 1, eventually resulting in the exile of Alexei's advisor Boris Morozov.
1650 Novgorod and Pskov Uprising, caused by the Russian government's bulk purchasing of grain (traded to Sweden) and the resulting increases in the price of bread.
1662 Copper Riots. Russian government began producing copper coins and assigning them equal value to silver currency to meet expenses. The effort failed and silver vanished from circulation, the entire economy collapsed and unemployment rose dramatically. The copper money was naturally devalued in purchasing power and then there was widespread counterfeiting operations since the official value of the copper coinage became far in excess of the cost of production.
1667-76 Solovetskoe uprising: the monks of the Solovki monastery were opposed to church reforms. The siege of the Solovetsky monastery lasted 8 years and ended with the capture of the monastery by the tsarist troops.
1670-71 Cossack uprising led by Stepan Razin.
Cossack Stenka Razin led a major uprising against the nobility and tsarist bureaucracy in southern Russia. Razin became a symbol of peasant unrest, his movement turned political. Razin wanted to protect the independence of the Cossacks and to protest an increasingly centralized government. The Cossacks supported the tsar and autocracy, but they wanted a tsar that responded to the needs of the people and not just those of the upper class. Razin's movement failed and the rebellion led to increased government control. The Cossacks lost some of their autonomy, and the tsar bonded more closely with the upper class because both feared more rebellion.
1682 1st Streltsy uprising (The Khovansky Affair).
An uprising of the Moscow Streltsy regiments that resulted in supreme power devolving on Sophia Alekseyevna. Behind the uprising lurked the rivalry between the Miloslavsky and Naryshkin relatives of the two wives of the late Tsar Aleksey for dominant influence on the administration of the Tsardom of Russia.
1698 2nd Streltsy uprising, suppressed by Tsar Peter I.
Possible reasons: rebellion against the progressive innovations of Peter the Great, serfdom oppression, military-service hardships and harassment.
The Moscow Streltsy, who had participated in Peter the Great's Azov campaigns in 1695–1696, remained in Azov as a garrison.
In 1697 , however, the four regiments of Streltsy were unexpectedly sent to Velikiye Luki instead of Moscow.
In 1698 they left their regiments and fled to Moscow to file a complaint. They secretly established contact with Sophia Alekseyevna, who had been incarcerated at the Novodevichy Monastery, and hoped for her mediation.
The runaway Streltsy, despite their resistance, were sent back to their regiments, giving rise to discontent among the rest of them. Peter availed himself of savage tortures while investigating the incident. Between 1698 and 1699, 1,182 Streltsy were executed and 601 were whipped, branded with iron, or sent into exile. The investigation and executions continued up until 1707. Streltsy and their family members were removed from Moscow.

A number of social grievances were prevalent in the peasant population of Russia of 18th century due to:
- Peter the Great's radical reforms designed to «Westernize» old Muscovy;
- Peter's newly formed police state was expanding territorially: with the massive recruitment into the army for campaigns to Azov and Sweden, unfolded construction;
The whole groups of serfs and even villages fled with their families to the Volga, Don and SloDOBa Ukraine.
In general, the entire rural Russian atmosphere was in an agitated state, waiting for a catalyst of some kind.
1705-06 Astrakhan uprising: an antifeudal action by streltsy, soldiers, posadskie liudi (merchants and artisans), and rabotnye liudi (bound or free industrial and trade workers) in Astrakhan.

Causes: the intensification of tax oppression (new taxes on salt, on baths, cellars, and ovens) and the arbitrariness and coercion of the local administration and garrison officers. The salaries of the soldiers and streltsy were lowered, and they were forced to work for the officers. The immediate cause of the uprising was Peter Ist ukase prohibiting the wearing of Russian dress and beards (cutting off beards «with blood.»)
1707-09 Bulavin Rebellion: a war of Don Cossacks against Imperial Russia was led by Kondraty Bulavin, a democratically elected Ataman of Don Cossacks.
The war was triggered by a number of underlying tensions between the Imperial government under Peter Ist of Russia, the Cossacks, and Russian peasants fleeing from serfdom in Russia to gain freedom in the autonomous Don area.
The Bulavin Rebellion bore striking similarities to Razin's Revolt a generation earlier. Both were Cossack rebellions in part, aimed against an imposing governmental institution and driven by animosity for the miserable state of peasant life. They effectively set the stage for the Pugachev Uprising under Catherine the Great. In response to the uprising, Peter tightened his grip on the Cossack states.
1769-1771 Kizhi uprising: a movement among state peasants attached to the Olonets metallurgical works in Karelia, provoked by increased feudal exploitation in the form of compulsory labor at factories (cutting wood, stoking coal, processing ores) and by abuses of the local administration.
After heavy artillery fire by the punitive expedition about 2,000 peasants surrendered. The leaders of the movement were branded, whipped, and sentenced to hard labor for life in Nerchinsk. About 52 persons were deported to Siberia, and many were conscripted into the army. As a result of the uprising, peasants were no longer forced to quarry marble or construct new plants.
1771 Plague riot caused by an outbreak of bubonic plague.
The measures undertaken by the authorities, such as creation of forced quarantines, destruction of contaminated property without compensation or control, closing of public baths, etc., caused fear and anger among the citizens.
The city's economy was mostly paralyzed because many factories, markets, stores, and administrative buildings had been closed down.
All of this was followed by acute food shortages, causing deterioration of living conditions for the majority of the Muscovites.
1773-75 Pugachev's Rebellion (major Cossack and peasant rebellion in Russia).
Claiming to be Emperor Peter IIIrd (who had been deposed by his wife, Catherine IInd the Great, and assassinated in 1762), Pugachov decreed the abolition of serfdom and gathered a substantial following, including Yaik Cossacks, peasant workers in the mines and factories of the Urals, agricultural peasants, clergymen, and the Bashkirs. Planning ultimately to depose Catherine, Pugachov stormed and laid siege to Orenburg in 1773.
Catherine recognized the seriousness of the rebellion and sent an army, but Pugachov proceeded to Kazan and burned the city (1774). He was defeated again several days later, but he crossed the Volga River, intending to gather reinforcements among the Don Cossacks. He captured Saratov (1774) and besieged Tsaritsyn (now Volgograd), where General A. Suvorov finally defeated him (September 1774). Pugachov escaped but was betrayed by some Yaik Cossacks, sent to Moscow, and executed.
Salawat Yulayev is a Bashkir national hero who participated in Pugachev's Rebellion.

1820s Creation of secret organizations «Union of Welfare», «Northern society», «Southern Society» by Russian advanced nobility. The general ideas: the abolishment of autocracy and serfdom and introduction of constitutional form of government.
1825 Decembrist uprising: a revolutionary movement born during the reign of Alexander Ist.
The background of the Decembrist Revolt lay in the Napoleonic Wars, when a number of well-educated Russian officers in Western Europe during the course of military campaigns were exposed to its liberalism and encouraged to seek change on their return to autocratic Russia.
Army officers created the Union of Salvation, aimed at the abolishment of serfdom and introduction of constitutional monarchy by means of armed revolt at the next emperor’s succession to the throne.

The revolt occurred on December 1825, when about 3,000 officers and soldiers refused to swear allegiance to the new tsar, Alexander’s brother Nicholas, proclaiming instead their loyalty to the idea of a Russian constitution and a constitutional monarchy .
The revolt was easily crushed, and the surviving rebels exiled to Siberia, leading Nicholas to turn away from the modernization program begun by Peter the Great.
1830-31 Cholera riots - the riots caused by the anti-cholera measures, undertaken by the tsarist government, such as quarantine, armed cordons and migratory restrictions.
Influenced by rumors of deliberate contamination of ordinary people by government officials and doctors, agitated mobs started raiding police departments and state hospitals, killing hated functionaries, officers, landowners and gentry. (in Tambov, St. Petersburg, Novgorod Province, Sevastopol, etc.).
1840-44 Potato riots - the introduction of potato cultivation culture met with strong resistance from the peasants (in the Perm, Orenburg, Vyatka, Kazan and Saratov gubernias).
The forcible measures accompanying the introduction of the sowing of potatoes provoked the disturbances; the peasants’ best land was chosen for potatoes, they were subjected to severe penalties for failure to observe the directions of the authorities, and various requisitions were imposed on them. 1860s-70s Student Movements. Caused by: social composition and financial situation of students; the activities of revolutionary secret societies; increased student oversight.
1860s-1870s Narodnichestvo movement («Populists») - socialist movement in Russia who believed that political propaganda among the peasantry would lead to the awakening of the masses and, through their influence, to the liberalization of the tsarist regime.
Because Russia was a predominantly agricultural country, the peasants represented the majority of the people (narod): hence the name of the movement, narodnichestvo, or «populism.»
1860s-1870s Proletariat movement: caused by increase in the number of the proletariat and difficult working conditions (up to 17 hours a working day, lower salary for female and child labor). 1860s-1890s Strike movement: 1861- 1869 ~ 63 strikes, 1870-1879 ~ 326 strikes, 1880-1884 ~ 101 strike (~ 99 thousand workers), 1885-1889 ~ 221 strike (~ 223 thousand workers).
1890s The spread of Marxism: Marxism made important inroads among Russian intellectuals, gaining adherents in academic circles and in the radical and revolutionary movement. Among them were young intellectuals V. Ulianov (Lenin) and J. Martov.
Both decided to dedicate their lives to revolutionary struggle and soon emerged as leaders of Russian Marxists. In the 1890s Marxism appealed to many young intellectuals, including many future liberals, like P. Struve, N. Berdiaev, S. Bulgakov, who would later renounce their early Marxist learnings.

1905-07 1st Russian Revolution. Causes: lack of reforms, poverty and powerlessness of peasants (70% of the population), powerlessness of workers, the national question (forced Russification), failures on the Russian-Japanese front.
Events: Bloody Sunday, mutiny on the battleship «Prince Potyomkin Taurian» and the cruiser «Ochakov», All-Russian strike. Results: the formation of the State Duma, trade unions, voting rights.
1917 February February Revolution. Causes: anti-war sentiments, the plight of workers and peasants, political powerlessness, the decline of the authority of autocratic power and its inability to carry out reforms.
Events: strikes and strikes, transfer of the tsarist regiments to the side of the workers, Nicholas II's abdication from the throne diarchy - the Council of Deputies as an organ of people's power and the Provisional Government as an organ of the bourgeois dictatorship.

1917 October October Revolution. Causes: the diarchy ended with the victory of the bourgeoisie, which did not fulfill the demands of the working people, the announcement of the dictatorship and the intention to disperse the Soviets.
Events: the creation of the Military Revolutionary Committee, the overthrow and arrest of the Provisional Government, the transfer of power to the Soviets, the «Peace Decree» and the «Land Decree».
1929-33 Rebellion and discontent against collectivization and dispossession of kulaks. Holodomor. Seizure of property for transfer to collective farms. Fines for non-fulfillment of grain procurements.
1960s-1980s The dissident movement in the USSR. Criticism of power, the struggle for human rights, stagnation in science, the movement on the originality of Russia. Fighting dissidents: arrests, links, mental hospitals.
1990 Mass rally (more than 200 thousand) for the abolition of the one-party system (Article 6 of the Constitution). Adoption of the law of the USSR on recognition of a multiparty system in the country.
1990 The aggravation of interethnic and interfaith relations in the 1990s.

The Vikings traded along the Russian rivers and founded settlements.

The controversial subject was the coast of the Gulf of Finland, which both the Novgorodians and the Swedes sought to take over.

1142-64 Swedish Crusade.
Swedish–Novgorodian Wars were a series of conflicts in the 12th and 13th centuries between the Republic of Novgorod and medieval Sweden over control of the Gulf of Finland, a part of the Varangian-Byzantine trade route. The Swedish attacks against Orthodox Russians had religious overtones.

After the marriage of Yaroslav I (Grand Prince of Novgorod and Kiev) to Ingegerd of Sweden in 1019, Ladoga became a desired territory in the orbit of Kievan Rus.
According to the First Novgorod Chronicle, the Swedish troops attacked the Novgorod merchants somewhere in the Baltic Sea region and killed 150 Novgorodians in 1142. It is the first known case of hostilities between Sweden and Novgorod. In 1164, a strong Swedish fleet approached Ladoga but was soundly defeated with most of its ships captured by Novgorod.

1240 Battle of the Neva. The Swedes invaded Russia to punish the Novgorodians for encroaching on Finnish tribes and to bar Russia’s access to the sea. Aleksandr Yaroslavich (Saint Alexander Nevsky) defeated the Swedes at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva. At the time of the battle he was not even 20 years old.
By defeating a Swedish invasion force at the confluence of the Rivers Izhora and Neva, he won the name Nevsky, «of the Neva».

1311 Novgorod raid on Finland.
1313 Burning by the Swedes Ladoga.
1314 Korela rebelled against Novgorod and called on the Swedes. Restraining Korela.
1322 After an unsuccessful attempt to seize Vyborg, the Novgorodians set up the Oreshek fortress.

Wars with the Swedes after the annexation of Novgorod to Moscow.
Ivan III concluded an alliance with Hans of Denmark.
He built a strong citadel in Ingria, named Ivangorod after himself, situated on the Russian-Estonian border, opposite the fortress of Narva held by the Livonian Confederation.
1495–97 Russo-Swedish War. Ivan III unsuccessfully attempted to conquer Vyborg from Sweden.

1508 A 60-year peace treaty under Vasily 3.
1554 Under Ivan the Terrible, Scandinavians attacked the Oreshek fortress. Russian troops laid siege to Vyborg. The Swedes staged a merciless pogrom in Korel lands.
1595 In troubled times, the people of Novgorod called upon the Swedish Prince and threw the Novgorod to the Swedes.

By the time of the accession of Mikhail Feodorovich in the hands of the Swedes were Ingermanlandia and part of the Novgorod lands.
1610-17 The Ingrian War between Sweden and Russia. This war was a part of Russia's Time of Troubles with the attempt to put a Swedish duke on the Russian throne. It ended with a large Swedish territorial gain in the Treaty of Stolbovo in 1617, which laid an important foundation to Sweden's Age of Greatness.

Russia lost the Izhora land and the Karelian county, which included the north-western Priladozhie.
As a result of the war, Russia was denied access to the Baltic sea for about a century, despite its persistent efforts to reverse the situation. This led to the increased importance of Arkhangelsk for its trading connections with Western Europe.
1656–58 The Russo-Swedish War - was fought by Russia and Sweden as a part of the Second Northern War. It took place during a pause in the contemporary Russo-Polish War (1654-1667) as a consequence of the Truce of Vilna. Despite initial successes, Tsar Alexis of Russia failed to secure his principal objective—to revise the Treaty of Stolbovo.

1700-21, 1741-43, 1788-90 Northern Wars.
The causes: Russia’s access to the Baltic was blocked by Swedish-held Karelia, Ingria, Estonia, and Livonia by Sweden’s expansion in the Baltic Sea coastlands during the 16th and 17th centuries.
1700-21 Great Northern War - military conflict in which Russia, Denmark-Norway, and Saxony-Poland challenged the supremacy of Sweden in the Baltic area.
1700 Siege of Narva by Russians and victorious attack on Swedes at Narva.

1700-03 The reorganization of Russian army by Peter I the Great.
1703 Peter I had founded the city of St. Petersburg and the naval port of Kronshtadt.
1704 Capture of Dorpat and Narva.
1709 The Battle of Poltava with main Sweden forces. Victory at Poltava. Defeat in The Northern War knocked Sweden out of the ranks of the great powers.
1710-11 Charles fled to Turkey and induced the Turks to declare war on Russia. However, the Turks, satisfied withanegotiated peace that gave them control of Azov, withdrew from the war.
1714 the Russians defeated the Swedish naval fleet at Hangö (Hanko) and, having captured the Åland Islands, threatened Stockholm.
1721 The Treaty of Nystad - which concluded the war between Sweden and Russia. Sweden ceded Ingria, Estonia, Livonia, and a strip of Finnish Karelia to Russia.
1741-43 The Russo-Swedish War - obliging Sweden to cede a strip of southern Finland to Russia and to become temporarily dependent on Russia.
1741 Empress Elizabeth of Russia agreed to return the Baltic territories to Sweden in exchange for Swedish support in her efforts to seize the Russian throne from the infant emperor Ivan 6.
The Swedes advanced toward St. Petersburg; their threat to the Russian capital enabled Elizabeth to stage a successful coup d’etat (to gain the power).
1742 Elizabeth reneged on the agreement with Sweden. Russian troops conquered Helsingfors and Åbo (modern Turku, then the capital of Finland) and occupied a large portion of Finland.
1743 Treaty of Åbo - Russia got a strip of southern Finland; Russian forces were to be allowed to occupy Sweden to make sure that nothing interfered with his selection.
1744 All the Russian troops were withdrawn from Sweden and Sweden quickly ended his dependence on Russia.
1788-90 The Russo-Swedish War, known as Gustav III's Russian War in Sweden.
The Western powers were alarmed by a string of Russian victories in the Russo-Turkish War (1787–92) and lobbied for the war in the north, which would have diverted the attention of Empress Catherine II of Russia from the Southern theatre. Sweden concluded an alliance with the Ottoman Empire in the summer of 1788. However, only the Ottoman Empire was willing to ally with Sweden while Great Britain, the Dutch Republic, and Prussia rejected efforts to form an alliance.
The Swedish attack foiled the Russian plans of sending its navy into the Mediterranean to support its forces fighting the Ottomans, as it was needed to protect the capital, Saint Petersburg. Russia land troops were tied up in the war against Turkey, and Catherine II was likewise concerned with revolutionary events in the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and in France (the French Revolution). The war ended with status quo.

1808 Alexander I sent Russian troops to conquer Finland. Swedes after the resistance signed a peace treaty, yielding Finland to Russia.
1809-1917 An autonomous status of the Grand Duchy of Finland (Governor-General in the Russian Empire).

1917 - Finland became an independent republic.
1918 The Finnish Civil War fought for the leadership and control of Finland during the country's transition from a Grand Duchy of the Russian Empire to an independent state.
The Finnish Civil War was fought between the socialist Reds and the non-socialist Whites in the newly sovereign state. The conflict lasted from late January until mid-May 1918 and resulted in a White victory.

1939-40 Soviet-Finnish war or the Winter War - a military conflict between the Soviet Union (USSR) and Finland.
The League of Nations deemed the attack illegal and expelled the Soviet Union from the organization.
The underlying cause of the Winter War was Soviet concern about Nazi Germany's expansionism and protection of Leningrad.
1940 The Moscow Peace Treaty Finland ceded 11% of its territory representing 30% of its economy to the Soviet Union. Soviet losses were heavy, and the country's international reputation suffered. Soviet gains exceeded their pre-war demands and the USSR received substantial territory along Lake Ladoga and in northern Finland.
1940-44 Finnish cooperation with Hitler's Germany. In 1944 a truce was signed between Finland and the USSR.

Russian-Byzantine Wars (9th - 11th centuries). The aim of the Russian Princes was the recognition of Kievan Rus by Byzantium.

907 The Rus'–Byzantine War associated in the Primary Chronicle with the name of Oleg of Novgorod. The chronicle implies that it was the most successful military operation of the Kievan Rus' against the Byzantine Empire.
Oleg resorted landed on the shore ~2,000 boats equipped with wheels. After his boats were transformed into vehicles, he led them to the walls of Constantinople and fixed his shield to the gates of the Imperial capital.
The threat to Constantinople was ultimately relieved by peace negotiations which bore fruit in the Russo-Byzantine Treaty of 907. Pursuant to the treaty, the Byzantines paid a tribute of twelve grivnas for each Rus' boat.

941 The Rus'–Byzantine War which took place during the reign of Igor of Kiev.
980-90 Vladimir had consolidated the Kievan realm from modern-day Belarus, Russia and Ukraine to the Baltic Sea and had solidified the frontiers against incursions of Bulgarian, Baltic tribes and Eastern nomads.

1043 Prince Yaroslav the Wise's a naval raid against Constantinople led by his son Vladimir. Although his navy was defeated in the Rus'–Byzantine War, Yaroslav managed to conclude the war with a favorable treaty and prestigious marriage of his son Vsevolod 1 of Kiev to a Byzantine princess. It has been suggested that the peace was so advantageous because the Kievans had succeeded in taking a key Byzantine possession in Crimea, Chersonesus.
1018 Svyatopolk Vladimirovich asked for help from the Polish Tsar against Yaroslav.
In 1030 Yaroslav the Wise conquered lands between Lake Peipus and the Baltic Sea and founded there the city of Yurev (named after Yaroslav's Christian name, Yurii-Georgii), now Tartu in Estonia.

In 1030–31, with Mstyslav's help, he regained the Cherven towns (part of modern Ukraine and Poland, 12-14 centuries - Galicia) from Bolesław I the Brave and annexed the Polish-ruled lands between the Sian River and the Buh River, where he founded Yaroslav (now Jarosław).
1044-74 The struggle for the Polotsk principality between Vseslav, Izyaslav and Vsevolod.
1084 The defeat of the Polotsk land by Vladimir Monomakh.

1127 The prince of Kiev, Mstislav Vladimirovich, began a war with the princes of Polotsk over trade routes and pillaged several cities including Polotsk (The area around Vitebsk was controlled by the principality of Polotsk beginning from the 10th century).

In 1193, Pope Celestine III declared the Northern Crusades, encouraging the Holy Roman Empire and Kingdom of Sweden to advance east into pagan-occupied territory. From then on, the Church would support any knights attempting to spread Rome’s influence farther to the north and east. For German Crusaders it was also the chance to get new lands and free labor.

Starting 1198 The Teutonic Knights — a German Order in the northern Holy Roman Empire — were working through Baltic tribes to grab hold of modern Latvia, Estonia and Lithuania. They formed buffer between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox branches of the Christian faith.

1208, 1236 Germans moved into Estonia. With the ally of the Russian soldiers Estonians managed to force the Teutonic Order into a 30-year slog to acquire the territory. In 1236 on the Battle of Saule the Germans vanquished the Estonians.
1240 An assault on Pskov by Teutonic Order. In early 1242 Alexander Nevsky reclaimed Novgorod lands, liberating Pskov and pushing the German knights back into Estonia.
1242 Battle of the Ice - Russian soldiers under the command of Prince Alexander Nevsky defeated the German knights, who wanted to strike at Novgorod the Great. that prevented the Germans from entering Russia, hardening the dividing line between the Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox Churches.

The battle served as the last real attempt by Western armies to conquer the Russians for centuries. Alexander Nevsky was canonized as a Saint.
Starting 1253 The Kingdom or Principality of Galicia–Volhynia was formed (modern states of Poland, Ukraine and the Slovak Republic).
At the peak of its expansion, the Galician–Volhynian state contained not only south-western Rus' lands, but also briefly controlled part of the Black Sea.
Galicia–Volhynia competed with other successor states of Kievan Rus' (Vladimir) to claim the Kievan inheritance.
Galicia–Volhynia's King Danylo was the last ruler of Kiev preceding the Mongolian invasion.
Galicia's rulers were not concerned by religious succession to control over the Kievan Church and obtained a separate Church from Byzantium. Galicia–Volhynia, Poland and Hungary belonged to the same psychological and cultural world.
1246 Following the destruction after the Mongol invasion of Kievan Rus', Galicia was looking for a help from Western Europe and tried, unsuccessfully, to establish military alliances with other European rulers.
middle 13th century-1795 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania was formed (modern states of Belarus and parts of Ukraine, Latvia, Poland and Russia).
1268 The Livonian Order's attempts to invade the Novgorod Republic were unsuccessful and its army was defeated in the Battle of Rakvere (The Livonian Order was an autonomous branch of the Teutonic Order, formed in 1237).

The expansion of the Grand Duch of Lithuania reached its height under Grand Duke Gediminas, who created a strong central government and established an empire that later spread from the Black Sea to the Baltic Sea.
The weak control of the Mongols over the west and south-west of Kievan Rus' allowed Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which was mostly untouched by Mongols, to expand and accelerate at these areas. Rus' principalities were never incorporated directly into the Golden Horde, maintaining vassal relationships. Lithuania annexed parts of Kievan Rus' as vassals through diplomacy with Mongols. A significant part of Russia was under the rule of the Lithuanian principality, which acted as a counterbalance to the Golden Horde.

1320 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania vassalized or annexed most of the principalities of western Rus'.
1321-23 Gediminas of Lithuania captured Kiev, sending Stanislav, the last Rurikid to rule Kiev, into exile. Gediminas also re-established the permanent capital of the Grand Duchy in Vilnius, moving it from Trakai.
Formally Kiev was still vassal of Golden Horde, and finally officiall became part of Lithuania in 1362.
1323 The extinction of the Rurikid dynasty in Galicia–Volhynia - the brothers Andrew and Lev II died together, fighting against the Mongols, and left no heirs.
Partition of kingdom: Volhynia passed into the control of the Lithuanians, while the Rus' boyars took control over Galicia.
1333, 1339 Lithuanians defeated Mongol forces attempting to regain Smolensk.
1349 Galicia–Volhynia ceased to exist as an independent state after successful Invasion of Poland's King Casimir III. The Polish conquest of the Kingdom of Galicia–Volhynia ended its vassalage to the Golden Horde.
1340-92 The civil war in the region transitioned into a power struggle between Lithuania, Poland, and Hungary.
By the mid-14th century, the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania divided up the region between them: Galicia and Western Volhynia now were part of Poland, Eastern Volhynia together with Kiev came under Lithuanian control.
~1355 The State of Moldavia had formed.
1385 Krevo union - a treaty between the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania (in Krevo, now in Belarus). It united the two countries in their struggle against the invading Teutonic knights. Ukrainian and Belarusian lands under the rule of Lithuania were incorporated into the Kingdom of Poland. Ukrainian and Belarusian nobles opposed the union.
1387 Lithuania had conquered the territory of the Golden Horde all the way to the Dnieper River.
1398 Lithuania invaded northern Crimea and won a decisive victory against Mongols.

At 15-16 centuries, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania is the main rival of Moscow for domination over the territories from Smolensk to Bug and from the Baltic to the Black Sea.

Muscovite–Lithuanian Wars (also known as Russo-Lithuanian Wars)
It relates to a series of wars between the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, allied with the Kingdom of Poland, and the Grand Duchy of Moscow. After several defeats at the hands of Ivan III and Vasily 3, the Lithuanians were increasingly reliant on Polish aid, which eventually became an important factor in the creation of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1492–94 First border war.
Ivan III considered himself an heir to the fallen Byzantine Empire and defender of the Orthodox Church. He proclaimed himself sovereign of all Rus' and claimed patrimonial rights to the former lands of Kievan Rus'.

Muscovite territory growed in power: 1456 extended influence to the Principality of Ryazan, 1477 annexed the Novgorod Republic, 1483 annexed the Principality of Tver. Further expansionist goals of Ivan III clashed with the Lithuanian interests.
1492 Without declaring war, Ivan III began large military actions: he captured and burned Mtsensk, Lyubutsk, Serpeysk, and Meshchovsk; raided Mosalsk; and attacked territory of the Dukes of Vyazma.
1494 An «eternal» peace treaty was concluded. The Lithuanian territorial losses to Moscow were to be approximately 87,000 km2.
1500-3 Second war.
The pretext was the alleged religious intolerance toward the Orthodox in the Lithuanian court.
1500 The Muscovites promptly overran Lithuanian fortresses in Bryansk, Vyazma, Dorogobuzh, Toropets, and Putyvl.
1501 The Livonian Order joined the war as an ally of Lithuania.
1502 Ivan III organized an successful campaign to capture Smolensk.
1503 Peace negotiations ended with a six-year truce on the Feast of the Annunciation. The Grand Duchy of Lithuania lost approximately 210,000 km2 or a third of its territory: Chernihiv, Novhorod-Siverskyi, Starodub, and lands around the upper Oka River.
The Lithuanians also acknowledged Ivan's title, sovereign of all Rus'.
1507-08 Third war.
1505 Vasili 3, son of Ivan III, advanced his bid for the Polish throne, but Polish nobles chose Sigismund I the Old. Sigismund I sent envoys to Moscow to request the return of the territories acquired by the 1503 truce.
1508 The war eventually ended with the inconclusive «eternal» peace treaty, which maintained the territorial accords of the 1503 truce.
1512-22 Fourth war.
1512 Muscovy Rus' invaded the Grand Duchy of Lithuania seeking to capture Smolensk.
1514 The capture of Smolensk.
1514 The Russians suffered a major defeat at the Battle of Orsha.
1518 Russian forces were beaten during the siege of Polotsk.
1519 The Russians invaded Lithuania again, raiding Orsha, Mogilev, Minsk, Vitebsk, and Polotsk.
1519-1521 The Polish–Teutonic War, when Maximilian I, Holy Roman Emperor allied with Vasili 3.
1522 A treaty was signed that called for a five-year truce, no prisoner exchange, and for Russia to retain control of Smolensk. The truce was subsequently extended to 1534.
1534-37 Fifth or Starodub war.
1534 The Polish–Lithuanian monarch and the Tatars devastated the area around Chernigov, Novgorod Seversk, Radogoshch, Starodub and Briansk. They decided to take advantage of the situation when Elena Glinskaya, acted as the regent of 3 years old Ivan IV , was engaged in power struggles with other relatives and boyars.
1537 Lithuania and Russia negotiated a five-year truce.

Livonian War.
1547 The Grand Duchy of Moscow officially became known as the Tsardom of Russia, with Ivan IV crowned as Tsar and «Ruler of all Rus». The tsar sought to gather the ethnically Ruthenian lands of the former Kievan Rus', engaging with other powers around the Baltic Sea in the Livonian War.
1568 Tsar Ivan IV invaded Livonia.
1570 Ceasefire divided Livonia between the participants, with Lithuania controlling Riga and Russians expanding access to the Baltic Sea by taking hold of Narva.
1569 Union of Lublin pact between Poland and Lithuania that united the two countries into a single state, forming the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth (Rzecz Pospolita). The whole of Southern Russia (Ukraine) passed from Lithuania to the Polish crown.
1577-82 Ivan IV took advantage of the Commonwealth internal strife and invaded Livonia, quickly taking almost the entire territory, with the exception of Riga and Reval (now Tallinn). Stefan Batory replied with a series of three offensives against Russia, trying to cut off Livonia from the main Russian territories.
1579 Stefan Batory retook Polatsk, Polish–Lithuanian troops also devastated Smolensk region, and Severia up to Starodoub.
1580 An army Stefan Batory took Velizh, Usvyat, Velikiye Luki.
1581 the Lithuanians burnt down Staraya Russa, with a 100,000-strong army Stefan Batory started the Siege of Pskov but failed to take the fortress.
1582-83 Yam-Zapolskoye and Plyusskoy truce, that deprived Russia of all conquests on the border with the Republic of Poland and the Baltic coastal cities. The division of Livonia between the Rzecz Pospolita, Sweden and Denmark. The Livonian War, which lasted for more than 20 years, was lost.

1605-18 The Polish–Muscovite War, also known as the Polish–Russian War or the Dimitriads - was a conflict fought between the Tsardom of Russia and the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Starting 1598 Poland began influencing Russian boyars at the Time of Troubles, and supporting False Dmitris for the title of Tsar of Russia against the crowned Boris Godunov and Vasili Shuysky.
1605-09 King Sigismund III informally invaded Russia until the death of False Dmitry I in 1606, and invaded again in 1607 until Russia formed a military alliance with Sweden in 1609.
1610 Polish forces entered Moscow and Sweden withdrew from the military alliance with Russia, instead triggering the Ingrian War.

Sigismund's son, Prince Władysław of Poland, was elected tsar by the Seven Boyars, but Sigismund seized the Russian throne for himself to convert the population to Catholicism, with the pro-Polish boyars ending their support for the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth.
1611 Kuzma Minin and Prince Dmitry Pozharsky formed a new army to launch a popular revolt against the Polish occupation. The Poles captured Smolensk in June 1611 but began to retreat after they were ousted from Moscow in September 1612.
1613 Michael Romanov, the son of Patriarch Filaret of Moscow, was elected Tsar of Russia, beginning the Romanov dynasty and ending the Time of Troubles.
1618 The end of Polish-Muscovite war with the Truce of Deulino, which granted the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth certain territorial concessions but preserved Russia's independence.
1654 Pereyaslav Agreement - an act undertaken by the rada (council) of the Cossack army in Ukraine, led by Bohdan Khmelnytsky, to submit Ukraine to Russian rule, and the acceptance of this act by emissaries of the Russian tsar Alexis.
Starting 1648 Ukraine had many problems with Poland, the Ottoman Empire and the Crimean Tatars and therefore decided to turn to Moscow for protection.
With the unification the Cossacks were granted a large degree of autonomy, and they, as well as other social groups in Ukraine, retained all the rights and privileges they had enjoyed under Polish rule.
Ukraine continued to be a part of the Russian empire for the next 263 years (until the empire collapsed in 1917) and it gained vast northern territories granted by various Russian tsars.
1654–67 The Thirteen Years’ War between Russia and Poland for control of Ukraine.
The unification of Ukraine with Russia was unacceptable to Poland. During the war, control of Ukraine shifted back and forth many times.
1667 Truce of Andrusovo - piece treaty that ended the Thirteen Years’ War, favorable to Russia.
According to the truce Ukraine was divided along the Dnieper River; Russia received the eastern portion of Ukraine, the city of Kiev, and the provinces of Smolensk and Seversk. The truce was confirmed by a treaty concluded in 1686.

1708-09 Mazepa uprising attempts to free the eastern Hetmanate from Russian rule, during the prolonged Great Northern War that ranged Russia against Poland and Sweden at the time.
The causes: the growth of social discontent in Ukraine caused by endless wars and abuse of the Ukranian population by Russian troops were the causes, that in 1700 Hetman of Ukraine Mazepa entered into secret negotiations with Charles XII of Sweden. In 1709 Mazepa, however, was able neither to inspire the Ukrainian population to revolt against the Russians nor to supply the Swedes with enough Cossacks to prevent the Russians from inflicting a major defeat upon them at Poltava. After that battle, Mazepa escaped with Charles into Turkish-controlled Moldavia, where he died.

1764 Russia abolishes the eastern Hetmanate and establishes the Little Russia governorate as a transitional entity until the full annexation of the territory in 1781.
1772-95 Decline and collapse of the Commonwealth of Poland.
The Commonwealth was facing many internal problems (civil war) and was vulnerable to foreign influences.
1768 The Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth became a protectorate of the Russian Empire. Control of Poland was central to Catherine the Great's diplomatic and military strategies.
1772, 1793, 1795 A partition of Poland in three stages between Prussia, Austria and Russia. In 1795 Commonwealth of Poland collapsed.
Poland and Lithuania were not re-established as independent countries until 1918.

1806 Prussia joins Britain and Russia against Napoleon.
1807 The Treaty of Tilsit - the treaty between Tsar Alexander I of Russia and Napoleon Bonaparte of France. The treaty mediated peace between Russia and France.
1807 Transition of the Poles to the side of Napoleon. Napoleon created a French protectorate in Poland Duchy of Warsaw. Napoleonic campaign in Russia.
1812 Patriotic War with Napoleon expelled from Russia.
Battle of Smolensk. Moscow evacuated. Battle of Borodino. Napoleon arrives in Moscow to find the city abandoned and set alight by the inhabitants; retreating in the midst of a frigid winter, the army suffers great losses. Beginning of the Great Retreat. Battle of Maloyaroslavets. Crossing of the River Berezina. Grande Armée expelled from Russia

1813-14 Campaign of the Russian army liberated European countries from the domination of Napoleon.
1815 The formation of the Polish Tsardom - after the defeat of Napoleon the Duchy of Poland was transferred to Russia. Russification of the Tsardom of Poland.

1914-18 1st World War.
Germany, Austria-Hungary, Bulgaria and the Ottoman Empire (the Central Powers) fought against Great Britain, France, Russia, Italy, Romania, Japan and the United States (the Allied Powers).
Russia’s simmering instability exploded in the Russian Revolution of 1917, spearheaded by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks, which ended czarist rule and brought a halt to Russian participation in World War I.
1918 Treaties of Brest-Litovsk.
Lenin, realizing that the new Soviet state was too weak to survive a continuation of the war, was accepting German terms such as:
Russia lost Ukraine, its Polish and Baltic territories, and Finland (Ukraine was recovered in 1919, during the Russian Civil War.)

1918-22 Russian Civil War - civil war fought between several groups in Russia. The main fighting was between the Red Army and the White Army. The Red Army was an army of communists. The White Army opposed the communists. Other forces fought against both these groups or sometimes helped one against the other. The Red Army fought against Denikin in the south, Krasnov-on-Don, the countries of Atlanta in the Black Sea region, Yudenich in the West.
After this war, the communists established the Soviet Union in 1922.
1919-20 Russo-Polish War - military conflict between Soviet Russia and Poland, which sought to seize Ukraine. It resulted in the establishment of the Russo-Polish border that existed until 1939.
Although there had been hostilities between the two countries during 1919, the conflict began when the Polish head of state formed an alliance with the Ukrainian nationalist leader S. Petlyura.
1920 The Treaty of Riga - provided for the bulk of Ukraine to remain a Soviet republic, although substantial portions of Belorussia (Belarus) and Ukraine were ceded to Poland.
1939 Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact with A. Hitler - as a neutrality pact between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
The non-aggression pact contained a secret protocol dividing Northern and Eastern Europe into German and Soviet spheres of influence in the event of war.
1939 Polish campaign of the USSR.
One week after the signing of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact, German forces invaded Poland from the west, north, and south. The Soviet Red Army invaded Poland from the east.
The result of the war was the two-way division and annexation of the entire territory of the Second Polish Republic by Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union.
1941-45 Great Patriotic War or the German-Soviet War - the conflict fought along the many fronts of the Eastern Front of World War II between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany and its allies.
It was part of the Eastern Front of World War II - conflict between the European Axis powers and co-belligerent Finland against the Soviet Union (USSR), Poland and other Allies, which encompassed Central Europe, Eastern Europe, Northeast Europe (Baltics), and Southeast Europe (Balkans).
Outcomes of Great Patriotic War:
The USSR’s losses are now estimated at about 26.6 million, accounting for half of all WW2 casualties.
Germany and its capital Berlin were divided into four parts. The zones were to be controlled by Great Britain, the United States, France and the Soviet Union.
The division of Europe between the USSR and the «West»: the partition of Poland (the east of Poland passed to the USSR), the USSR-controlled GDRs, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Poland and Yugoslavia.
The division of Europe was the beginning of the Cold War - the war between the democratic nations of the west and the Communist countries of eastern Europe.
During World War 2 , four of the Allied powers—the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union and China— agreed to create an organization that should work for peace .It gave birth to the United Nations.
1968 The suppression of the «Prague Spring» in Czechoslovakia.
The Soviet Union and other Warsaw Pact countries viewed plans for the liberalization and democratization in Czechoslovakia by A. Dubček as tantamount to counterrevolution.
Soviet armed forces invaded the country and quickly occupied it. As hard-line communists retook positions of power, the reforms were curtailed, and Dubček was deposed the following April.
1980s-90s The collapse of socialism in Eastern Europe after the collapse of the USSR.
The Revolutions of 1989 formed part of a revolutionary wave in the late 1980s and early 1990s that resulted in the end of communist rule in Central and Eastern Europe and beyond.
The events of the full-blown revolution first began in Poland in 1989 and continued in Hungary, East Germany, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia and Romania. One feature common to most of these developments was the extensive use of campaigns of civil resistance, demonstrating popular opposition to the continuation of one-party rule and contributing to the pressure for change.

1243 Part of the Crimean peninsula became the Ulus of the Golden Horde (Crimean Tatars).

1443 The formation of the Khanate of Crimea, one of the successor states to the Mongol empire. Centred at Bakhchysaray, the Crimean khanate staged occasional raids on emergent Muscovy.
1475 The Khanate of Crimea became a Turkish vassal (Ottoman Empire) . The Crimean Khans were appointed by the Sultan of the Geraev clan, the Crimean Khan had no right to start a war and make peace. For almost three centuries, the Crimean Tatars regularly raided the Russian lands. The lands of Russia and the Crimean Khanate were divided by the Russian and Ukrainian territories of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
1480 Ivan III formally declared Moscow independent from The Khanate of Crimea.

Crimean Khans constantly interfered in relations between Russia and Poland, entered into an alliance with Moscow, then with Poland, looted Moscow and Polish Ukraine, sold prisoners.
1507 1st raid of the Crimean Tatars for slaves on the land of Moscow Russia.
1511-1512 Raids on the Ryazan and Bryansk lands.
1521 1st raid on Moscow.
1568-70 1st Russian-Turkish War was a war between the Tsardom of Russia and the Ottoman Empire over the Astrakhan Khanate. It was the first of twelve Russo-Turkish wars ending with World War I in 1914-18.
The Ottoman Empire of Suleiman I sought to regain the influence of the Astrakhan and Kazan Khanates. The army was defeated by the army of Prince Serebryanny, the military governor of Astrakhan. The Ottoman fleet that had besieged Azov was destroyed by a storm.

1666–71 Polish-Cossack-Tatar War was the war between the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire (a war between the Cossack Hetmanate and Crimean Khanate) over Ukraine. It was one of the aftermaths of the Russo-Polish War (1654–67) and a prelude to the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–76).
1666 Hetman of right-bank Ukraine P. Doroshenko, aiming to gain control of whole Ukraine, signed a treaty with Crimean Khanate (Sultan Mehmed IV) that recognized the Cossack Hetmanate as a vassal of the Ottoman Empire.
Later on the Ottoman Empire tried to gain control of that region for itself.
1676–81, 1687, 1689, 1695–96 Russian-Turkish wars.

1676–81 Russo-Turkish War.
The Ottoman government strove to spread its rule over all of the Right-bank Ukraine.
1676 Chigirin (the capital of the Cossacks of Ukraine) was captured by the pro-Turkish hetman Doroshenko. The city was recaptured thanks to the soldiers of Hetman Samoilovich and Prince Romodanovsky.
1681 The Treaty of Bakhchisarai ended the Russo-Turkish War by Russia, the Ottoman Empire, and the Crimean Khanate, with the agreement of 20-year truce and demarcation line as the Dnieper River.
1687-69 Two failed attempts to subdue Khanate of Crimea by Prince Vasily Golitsyn. Khanate of Crimea survived to stage raids on Russia until Catherine II the Great.
1695–96 Peter I the Great’s forces succeeded in capturing the fortress of Azov.

1710–12, 1735–39, 1768–74, 1787–91 Russian-Turkish wars.
1710-12 Turkey entered the Northern War against Russia, and after Peter the Great’s attempt to liberate the Balkans from Ottoman rule ended in defeat with return of Azov to Turkey.
1735-39 Russia and Austria alliance against Turkey. The Russians successfully invaded Turkish-held Moldavia, but their Austrian allies were defeated.
1736 Another war with the Ottoman Empire, prompted by raids on Ukraine by Crimean Tatars and the military campaign of the Crimean khan in the Caucasus.

1768–74 Turkey demanded that Russia’s ruler, Catherine II the Great, abstain from interfering in Poland’s internal affairs. The Russians went on to win impressive victories over the Turks. They captured Azov, Crimea, and Bessarabia, and under Field Marshal P. Rumyantsev they overran Moldavia and also defeated the Turks in Bulgaria.
1774 The Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca made the Crimean khanate independent of the Turkish sultan; advanced the Russian frontier southward to the Southern (Pivdennyy) Buh River; gave Russia the right to maintain a fleet on the Black Sea; and assigned Russia vague rights of protection over the Ottoman sultan’s Christian subjects throughout the Balkans.
1783 Catherine II signed a manifesto on the annexation of the Crimea, Taman Island and the Kuban Region to Russia.
1787-91 Turks declared war on Russia. The Russian-Austrian army (Russian army commanded by General A. Suvorov) captured Belgrade, Ishmael and Anapa.
1792 The Treaty of Jassy - Turkey ceded the entire western Ukrainian Black Sea coast (from the Kerch Strait westward to the mouth of the Dniester) to Russia.

1811 With the prospect of a Franco-Russian war in sight, Russia sought a quick decision on its southern frontier (Ottoman Empire was Napoleon's ally).
1812 The Treaty of Bucharest - when victorious campaign of Russia against Napoleon forced the Turks to cede Bessarabia to Russia.
Its subsequent wars with Turkey were fought to gain influence in the Ottoman Balkans and expand into the Caucasus.
1828-29 The Russo-Turkish War sparked by the Greeks’ struggle for independence from Ottomans, in which Russian forces advanced into Bulgaria, the Caucasus, and northeastern Anatolia before the Turks sued for peace. The resulting Treaty of Edirne gave Russia most of the eastern shore of the Black Sea, and Turkey recognized Russian sovereignty over Georgia and parts of present-day Armenia.

1853-56 Crimean War: fought mainly on the Crimean Peninsula between Russia on one side, and Great Britain, France, the Ottoman Empire, and Sardinia on the other (France and Great Britain wanted to stop Russia's Empire growing influence).
Reasons:
The Russians demanded better treatment of and wanted to protect the Orthodox subjects of the Sultan of Turkey.
A dispute between the Russians and the French regarding the privileges of the Russian Orthodox and the Roman Catholic Churches in Palestine. With the backing of Britain, the Turks declared war on Russia in 1853. In 1854 France and Britain also declared war against Russia.
Throughout the war, the Russian army's main concern was to make sure that Austria stayed out of the war.
1856 Congress of Paris - diplomatic meeting held in Paris, France, to make peace after Crimean War.
Crimean War outcomes:
Russia lost part of Bessarabia and was forced to demilitarize the Black Sea.
The territories of Russia and Turkey were restored to their prewar boundaries. The Black Sea was neutralized so that no warships were allowed to enter; however, it was open to all other nations. A major consequence of this agreement was the reopening of the Black Sea for international trade and commerce.
The sultan of Turkey agreed, in return, to help improve the status of the Christian subjects in his empire.
The Crimean War thus instigated an era of self-evaluation in Russia which threw off the archaic traditions and embraced modernization by liberal reforms of Alexander II.
The Crimean War saw the balance of power change hands in Europe. Whilst Russia suffered a major defeat, Austria, which had chosen to remain neutral, would find itself in the coming years at the mercy of Germany.
1877-78 Slavic peoples of the Balkan Peninsula (Herzegovina, Romania, Bosnia and Bulgaria), supported by Russia, revolted against the Ottomans. End of Turkish rule in the Balkans.
The Treaty of San Stefano with Turkey in 1878 freed Romania, Serbia, and Montenegro from Turkish rule, gave autonomy to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and created a huge autonomous Bulgaria under Russian protection.
1878 The union of Germany (Bismarck) and Turkey. Austria occupied Bosnia and Herzegovina, Britain gained Cyprus, Russia's influence is limited.

The Ottoman entry into World War I resulted from an overly calculation of likely advantage.
The long-standing hostility to Russia combined to produce an Ottoman bombardment of the Russian Black Sea ports in 1914 and a declaration of war by the Entente against the Ottoman Empire.
The Ottomans held down a substantial numbers of Entente troops. In 1918 they dominated Transcaucasia
(Transcaucasia, Russian Zakavkazye, a small but densely populated region to the south of the Caucasus Mountains. It includes three independent states: Georgia in the northwest, Azerbaijan in the east, and Armenia, situated largely on a high mountainous plateau south of Georgia and west of Azerbaijan).
During the war the Young Turks (political reform movement) took the opportunity to attack certain internal problems.

The Young Turks didn't get support among Armenians in Eastern Anatolia, who largely remained loyal to Ottoman Empire and hoped that Christian Europe would pressure the Ottoman Empire to implement new reforms and protections for Armenians.
The Armenian community in eastern Asia Minor and Cilicia was massacred or deported to eliminate any domestic support for the pro-Christian tsarist enemy on the Eastern Front. Between 600,000 and 1,500,000 Armenians were killed. These events are now widely described as a genocide of the Armenian people.
After 1916, army desertions took place on a massive scale, and economic pressures became acute.
The Ottoman entry into World War I ended with the partition of the Ottoman Empire's remaining territories under the terms of the Treaty of Sèvres.
Russia was promised Istanbul and the straits and some the Ottoman provinces in eastern Asia Minor.
1917 Russia withdrew from World War I and ceased hostilities against the Ottoman Empire.
The Russian withdrawal in 1917 and postwar bargaining led to some modifications of the partition of the Ottoman Empire: the Ottomans retained Istanbul and part of Thrace but lost the Arab provinces, ceded a large area of Asia Minor to a newly created Armenian state with access to the sea. The straits were internationalized, and strict European control of Ottoman finances was established.
1921 Treaty of Moscow - pact concluded at Moscow between the nationalist government of Turkey and the Soviet Union that fixed Turkey’s northeastern frontier and established friendly relations between the two nations, also settled border disputes by giving Kars and Ardahan to Turkey and Batumi to Russia.
1922-23 The proclamation of the Turkish Republic, which ended the Ottoman Empire, which had lasted since 1299.

According to Genesis 8:4, the Noah's Ark came to rest «on the mountains of Ararat». Early commentators record the tradition that these «mountains of Ararat» are to be found in the region then known as Armenia, roughly corresponding to Eastern Anatolia.
Through the foothills of the Caucasus in the 2nd century BC The Great Silk Road was laid. Ancestors of Armenians and Georgians, as early as 4-5 centuries, adopted Christianity, establishing a spiritual connection with the European world. In the 10th-12th centuries the ancient Georgian state was located from the Black to the Caspian Sea.

The Pechenegs (a semi-nomadic Turkic people from Central Asia) in the 9th century began a period of wars against Kievan Rus'. For more than two centuries they had launched raids into the lands of Rus'.
«Khazar Khaganate» (a semi-nomadic Turkic people with a confederation of Turkic-speaking tribes that in the late 6th century CE established a major commercial empire covering the southeastern section of modern European Russia), collected tribute from East Slavic tribes. It controlled the territory between the Black and Caspian Seas, Ciscaucasia, the Volga region, and Kazakhstan. Controlled the most important trade routes.

920 War on the Pechenegs by Igor of Kiev.
The Pecheneg wars against Kievan Rus' caused the Slavs from Walachian territories to gradually migrate north of the Dniestr in the 10th and 11th centuries.
964-66 Prince Svyatoslav’s campaigns against the Kama Bulgarians, Khazars, Yasovs and Kasogs.
964–66 Svyatoslav war with the Khazars for power of the Vyatichi Slavonic tribe.
This campaign resulted in the crushing defeat of the Khazar kaganat and destruction of its capital Itil and the fortresses of Sarkel and Semender.
At the same time he defeated the Volga Bolgars and took their capital Bolgar.
In the northern Caucasus he displayed himself in his victory over tribes of Yasy and Kasogi.

968-72 In 968 Pechenegs attacked Kyiv, thereby forcing Grand Prince Sviatoslav 1 Ihorovych to cut short his campaign against Bulgaria. In 972 a Pecheneg force led by Kagan Kuria routed Sviatoslav’s army and killed the prince.
968-72 Wars of Vladimir 2 Monomakh with the Polovtsy, who had settled in the steppe region southeast of the Kievan state. Vladimir recounted participating in 83 noteworthy military campaigns and recorded killing 200 Polovtsy princes.
Polovtsy (Kipchak, Byzantine Kuman, or Cuman) a loosely organized Turkic tribal confederation that by the mid-11th century occupied a vast, sprawling territory in the Eurasian steppe, stretching from north of the Aral Sea westward to the region north of the Black Sea.

Marriage unions of Russian Princes with the ruling houses of the Caucasus. 1154 - Izyaslav Mstistlavich's marriage to the daughter of Georgian Tsar Dimitri.
1036 The siege of Kiev by the Pechenegs. The defeat of the Pechenegs (the last invasion of the Pechenegs against Russia).
1077 Inter-Prince feuds with the participation of the Polovtsy: the Russian-Polovtsian army led by Oleg (son of Svyatopolk expelled from Vladimir) and Boris launched a campaign against Chernigov land.
1078 The Battle of Nezhatina Niva: Oleg Svyatoslavich and Boris Vyacheslavich rebelled against the sons of Yaroslav the Wise - Izyaslav, Prince of Kiev and Vsevolod, prince of Chernigov.

11-13 centuries The Kingdom of Georgia reached its Golden Age during the reign of King David IV and Queen Tamar the Great. The Georgian Empire was a medieval Eurasian monarchy which emerged circa 1008AD. Georgia became one of the pre-eminent nations of the Christian East, her pan-Caucasian empire stretching, at its largest extent, from Eastern Europe and the North Caucasus to the northern portion of Iran and Anatolia. It was the principal historical precursor of present-day Georgia.

After the death of Vladimir Monomakh, the Polovtsy participated in the internecine wars of the Russian Princes and in the defeats of Kiev as allies in 1169 and 1203.
1155 Prince Gleb Yuryevich took Kiev with the help of a Polovtsy (Cuman) army under the Cuman prince Chemgura. By 1160 Cuman raids into Rus' had become an annual event. These attacks put pressure on Rus' and affected trade routes to the Black Sea and Constantinople, in turn leading Rus' to again attempt action.
1170s-80s The Polovtsy Khan Konchek united the tribes of the eastern Cumans in the later half of the 12th century.

In the 1170s and 1180s he launched a number of attacks on the settlements of Kiev, the Principality of Chernigov and the Principality of Pereyaslavl. Konchak gave aid to the princes of the Principality of Novgorod-Seversk in their struggle for control with the other Rus' princes.
1185-86 Ihor Sviatoslavych unsuccessful campaign against the Polovtsy (in literature “The Song of Igor’s Campaign”). In 1186 Igor escaped from captivity and returned to Novgorod-Seversky.

1223 Battle of the Kalka River. During the first Mongol invasion of Russia, an army defeated an alliance of Russian princes and the Polovtsy.
1237-38 Invasion of Mongolian troops led by Batu Khan (the eldest son of Genghis Khan) to Russia. Batu Khan led his 35,000 mounted archers to burn down Moscow, Ryazan and Kolomna. Only Novgorod and Pskov were spared major destruction during this time.
1240 Invasion of Batu Khan into the great capital of Kiev and of the South Russian lands (Pereyaslavl, Rostov Veliky, Suzdal, Ryazan, Smolensk, Chernihiv, Galich). Kiev was sacked, starting a long era of Mongol rule in the region.
1239 The invasion of Batu Khan to the Crimea.

1241 The conquest of Volga Bulgaria.
1243 Batu founded the Golden Horde. Volga Bulgaria became part of the Golden Horde. Polovtsi ceased to exist as an independent people and made up the majority of the population of the Golden Horde. Part of the Crimean peninsula became the Ulus of the Golden Horde (Crimean Tatars).
1293 Khan Duden destroyed and burned 14 cities of northeast Russia.

1378 The victory of the Russian army over the Golden Horde in a battle on the river Vozhe. The Vozha battle was the first serious victory of the Russians over a big army of the Golden Horde. It had a big psychological effect before the famous Battle of Kulikovo because it demonstrated the vulnerability of the Tatar cavalry.
1380 Battle of Kulikovo on the Don River. This battle celebrated as the first victory for Russian forces over the Tatars of the Mongol Golden Horde since Russia was subjugated by Batu Khan in the 13th century. It was a giant step for the Duchy of Moscow in its rise to leadership of the Russian people.
1382 Siege and destruction of Moscow and other cities of North-Eastern Russia by Khan Tokhtamysh. Mamai’s successor and rival, Tokhtamysh, sacked and burned Moscow and reestablished the Horde’s dominion over the Russians.

1395 Tokhtamysh had his own power broken by his former ally Timur, who invaded the Horde’s territory in 1395, destroyed Sarai Berke, and deported most of the region’s skilled craftsmen to Central Asia, thus depriving the Horde of its technological edge over resurgent Muscovy.

During Vasily II reign the Golden Horde collapsed and broke up into smaller Khanates: Kazan and Astrakhan, Siberian Khanate.
1439 Moscow was besieged by the ruler of the Kazan Khanate. Vasily II had to flee the capital. Six years later, he personally led his troops against Ulugh Muhammad, but was defeated and taken prisoner. The Russians were forced to gather an enormous ransom for their prince, so that Vasily II could be released some five months later.
During that time, the control of Muscovy passed to Dmitry Shemyaka. Dmitry had Vasily II blinded and exiled him to Uglich, in 1446. Hence, Vasily II nickname, «the blind» (Tyomniy, literally «dark»).

As Vasily II still had a number of supporters in Moscow, Dmitry recalled him from exile and gave him Vologda as an appanage. that proved to be a mistake, as Vasily II quickly assembled his supporters and regained the throne.
1466 The final collapse of the Kingdom of Georgia into anarchy.
1480 Battle of the Ugra - bloodless confrontation between the armies of Muscovy and the Golden Horde, traditionally marking the end of the «Mongol yoke» in Russia. By this time the Golden Horde had lost control of large portions of its empire. Khan Akhmet of the Golden Horde led an army to the Ugra River, and waited there for his Lithuanian allies. The Muscovite army was drawn up on the opposite bank of the river. The two armies faced each other but did not fight. When the Lithuanians did not appear and Akhmet received word that his base camp near Sarai had been raided by allies of Ivan, he withdrew his army.
After the emergence of a centralized state, Russia resumed progress in the South Caucasus direction.
1490-93 The mutual recognition constituent kingdoms of Kartli, Kakheti and Imereti as independent states. It led by a rival branch of the Bagrationi dynasty, and into five semi-independent principalities – Odishi, Guria, Abkhazia, Svaneti, and Samtskhe – dominated by their own feudal clans.
1491 The ambassadors of the Kakhetian Tsar arrived in Moscow, initiating diplomatic relations.

The Kazan Khanate (1438-1552: emerged in 1438 and was incorporated to Russia in 1552; the state in the Middle Volga region, formed as a result of the collapse of the Golden Horde on the territory of the Volga Bulgaria), in alliance with Turkey, the Crimea, the Astrakhan Khanate and the Nogai Horde, pursued an aggressive policy towards Russia, closed for Russian Volga trade route, made constant raids, in the middle of the 16th century in Kazan there were about 100 thousand Russian prisoners.
1547 1st campaign of Ivan IV to Kazan.
1550 2nd expedition of Ivan IV to Kazan.
1552 Fall of Kazan.

Forces of Ivan IV the Terrible laid siege to Kazan. After two months of siege and destruction of the citadel walls, the Russians entered the city. Some defenders managed to escape but most were put to the sword: about 110,000 killed, both civilians and garrison.
After the fall of Kazan, territories such as Udmurtia and Bashkortostan joined Russia without a conflict. The administration of the khanate was wiped out; pro-Moscow and neutral nobles kept their lands, but others were executed. Tatars were then resettled far away from rivers, roads and Kazan. Free lands were settled by Russians and sometimes by pro-Russian Tatars. Orthodox bishops such as Germogen forcibly baptized many Tatars.
1556 Fall of Astrakhan.
Russia sent more troops and occupied Astrakhan, proceeding to destroy the largest slave market on the Volga. In 1558 'Astrakhan' was moved 12 km south to its present location.
1569 The Ottomans unsuccessful campaign to regain Astrakhan for Islam.

Under Ivan the Terrible, Russia came out in a Caucasian direction in open confrontation between Turkey and Persia: Circassian Princes asked the Russian tsar to save the population from the Crimean-Turkish slavery.
1589 The protection of Kakheti by Tsar Feodor 1 of Russia after Tsar of Kakheti Alexander II sent a letter to the Russia asking for protection from the Ottomans and Safavid Iran as both empires vied for the hegemony in the Caucasus.

Suspension of Russian foreign policy in the south and southeast during the Time of Troubles.
1603-18 The strengthening of Persia in the Caucasus after Ottoman–Safavid (Ottoman–Persia) War.
The destruction of the Turkish garrisons by the Persians in Azerbaijan, Eastern Armenia, Eastern Georgia. When Persians were laying siege of Armenian city Kars, whole population was ordered to accompany the Persian army in its withdrawal. Some 300,000 people were duly herded to Persia.
In the first half of the 17th century Greater Armenia was divided between the Ottomans and the Safavids, under which Eastern Armenia remained under Persian rule, and Western Armenia remained under Ottoman rule.

Strengthening of Turkish expansion in Kuban –Priazovie –Predkavkaze, which prevented Russia from rendering assistance to the Christians of the Caucasus.

The strategic goal of Peter I was to expand ties with the countries of the East and search for secure borders in the south of the empire. A Georgian sloDOBa, or ‘free settlement’, was formed in Moscow in the early 18th century. The goal of Catherine II - driving Turkey out of the Black Sea coast, Persia from the Caspian Sea, protecting Christians Georgians and Armenians from the Turks in the Caucasus.
1722-23,1732-35 Russian-Persian Wars.
1722–23 The Russo-Persian War (Persian campaign of Peter the Great) - a war between the Russian Empire and Safavid Iran, triggered by the tsar's attempt to expand Russian influence in the Caspian and Caucasus regions and to prevent its rival, the Ottoman Empire, from territorial gains in the region at the expense of declining Safavid Iran.

1723 The Treaty of Saint Petersburg - the Russian victory ratified for Safavid Iran's cession of their territories in the North Caucasus, South Caucasus and northern Iran to Russia.
1732-35
1732 The Treaty of Resht - Empress Anna Ioannovna returned many of the annexed territories to Iran to construct an alliance with the Safavids against the Ottoman Empire on the eve of the Russo-Turkish War.
1735 Treaty of Ganja - the remaining territories were returned, and Iran was again in full possession of its territories in the North and South Caucasus and in contemporary northern Iran.

This sequel was additionally disastrous for the Georgian rulers who had supported Peter's venture. In eastern Georgia, a georgian royal prince lost his throne and sought protection of the Russian court in 1724. Western Georgia had to accept an Ottoman suzerainty on more stringent terms. The Ottomans, further, alarmed by the Russian intervention, strengthened their hold along the Caucasian coastline.
1783 Russia guaranteed Georgia’s territorial integrity with Treaty of Georgievsk - an agreement concluded by Catherine II the Great of Russia and eastern Georgia. Under the terms of the treaty Russia was obligated to defend Georgia against enemies and allow continuation of Bagratid dynasty reigning, and Georgia renounced dependence upon Iran or any other power.
Russo-Georgian alliance, however, backfired as Russia was unwilling to fulfill the terms of the treaty.

1801 The annexation of Georgian kingdom, and reducing it to the status of a Russian region (Georgia Governorate).
1810 The western Georgian kingdom of Imereti was annexed by Russia as well.
Russian rule over Georgia was eventually acknowledged in various peace treaties with Persia and the Ottomans.
1813, 1828 The Treaty of Gulistan and the Treaty of Turkmenchay - Persians ceded Kakheti and the rest of Georgia, Southern Caucasus and Dagestan to Imperial Russia.
1804-13 Russian-Iranian war. The result of the war - Iran losses of most of Georgian territory. It showed ʿto Iran the necessity of reforming its military forces.

1829 Turkey recognized the rights of Russia in western Georgia and to Armenia.
Russian rule offered the Georgians security from external threats and unprecedented social and economic change, but it was also often heavy-handed and insensitive to locals.

1817-64 Caucasian War.
The war took place during the administrations of three successive Russian Tsars: Alexander I, Nicholas I, and Alexander II.
The Russian invasion encountered fierce resistance.
Reasons:
The colonial policy of Russia and the instigation of the Islamist sentiments of the Highlanders by Turkey and Persia.
The Caucasian War was an invasion of the Caucasus by the Russian Empire which resulted in Russia's annexation of the areas of the North Caucasus, and the ethnic cleansing of Circassians.
Stages of war:
1817-21 Russian army achieved little success, especially compared with the then recent Russian victory over the «Great Army» of Napoleon in 1812.
1821-26 The suppression of the uprisings in Kabarda, Adygea and Chechnya; the formation of an Imamat and the declaration of a holy war against Russia.
1825-33 Little military activity took place in the Caucasus as wars with Turkey (1828/1829) and with Persia (1826–1828) occupied the Russians.
1834-59 Imam Shamil united 30 thousand army of highlanders.
1859 The capture of Imam’s army. After the fall of the state of Shamil, the Caucasian army was aimed at conquering Circassia. It was decided to start settling the mountains with Cossack villages and evicting Adygei and Circassians to Turkey or the Kuban. «The Circassian Question» became a symbol of resistance to Russia's imperial policy. It also called Muhajirism, or population transfer of the Muslim population to the Ottoman Empire.
Shackling 200 thousand Russian army in the Caucasus was one of The causess for the defeat of Russia in the Crimean war.

At the beginning of the 20th century, the Caucasus was shaken by social and national unrest.
1917 Coalition government of Transcaucasia (Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia).
1922 Georgia (together with Abkhazia), Armenia and Azerbaijan formed a federal union the Transcaucasian Federation.
1979-88 War in Afghanistan: civil war of democratic forces (supported by the USSR) against radical Islamists (supported by NATO).
1991 Ethnic, religious diversity and national liberation movements as causes of instability in the Caucasus after the collapse of the USSR.
1991 Declaration of independence of Georgia, Azerbaijan, Armenia, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria.
1991-93 Civil war in Georgia. Conflicts between Georgia and autonomies (1991-1992 South Ossetian war, 1992-1993 war in Abkhazia).
1994-96 1st and 2nd of the war in Chechnya.

The Khanate of Sibir is a state in Western Siberia, which was formed at the end of the 15th century during the disintegration of the Golden Horde. The Khanate was a Turkic Khanate located in southwestern Siberia withaturco-Mongol ruling class.
The area of the Khanate was itself once an integral part of the Mongol Empire, and later came under the control of the White Horde and of the Golden Horde.
The Khanate of Sibir ruled an ethnically diverse population of Turkic Siberian Tatars, Bashkirs and various Uralic peoples including the Khanty, Mansi and Selkup.

The path to the Urals and to Siberia opened after the Russians conquered the Kazan Khanate. But the Siberian Khan Kuchum regularly conducted raids on these settlements.
1581 Ermak's campaign to Siberia and capture of the capital of the Siberian Khanate (Siberia).

1632 P. Beketov founded Lensky burg (Yakutsk).
1639 Cossack expedition went to the shores of the Pacific Ocean.
1648 S. Dezhnev's ships left to the strait separating Asia from America.
1649-53 E. Khabarov, with an expedition to Amur, assigned the Amur region to Russia. By the end of the 17th century, Russian troops reached the Pacific Ocean.

Atlasov, a Siberian Cossack, was the first Russian to organize systematic exploration of the Kamchatka Peninsula. The movement continued on Kuril Islands and Sakhalin. The beginning of the development of Primorye and Ussuri region.
1741 Expedition of V. Bering and A. Chirikov landed in Alaska.
1784 1st Russian settlement in Alaska.
1792 1st official contact with Japan.

1806 Raids on Japanese settlements of frigates «Juno» and «Avos».
1867 After the defeat in the Crimean War, Alaska was sold to the US government.
1875 The Treaty of Saint Petersburg: recognition of the entire Sakhalin territory for Russia in exchange for the cession of the entire Kuril archipelago to Japan (Russia was denied access to the Pacific Ocean from the Sea of Okhotsk and access to its resources).
1896 Russia had concluded an alliance with China against Japan. China gave the rights to Russia to extend the Trans-Siberian Railroad across Chinese-held Manchuria to the Russian seaport of Vladivostok, thus gaining control of an important strip of Manchurian territory.

1898 Russia had pressured China into granting it a lease for the strategically important port of Port Arthur in southern Manchuria. Russia thereby entered into occupation of the peninsula.
The expansionist policy in the Far East was causing the military conflict between Japan and Russia (Russia-Japanese war in 1904-1905).

1904-05 Russian-Japanese War - the defeat of Russia in military conflict between Russia and Japan for dominance in Korea and Manchuria.
1905 The Treaty of Portsmouth - Japan gained control of the Liaodong Peninsula (and Port Arthur) and the South Manchurian Railway (which led to Port Arthur), as well as half of Sakhalin Island. Russia agreed to evacuate southern Manchuria, which was restored to China, and Japan’s control of Korea was recognized. Within two months of the treaty’s signing, a revolution compelled the Russian tsar Nicholas II to issue the October Manifesto, which was the equivalent of a constitutional charter.
1931 USSR support of China soviet government established by the communists.

1937-45 War between China and Japan was supported by Soviet Union on Chinese side.
1945 War against Japan after the victory over Nazi Germany.
1950-53 USSR support North Korea during the Korean War.
1964-75 USSR support North Vietnam during the US war in Vietnam.
1970-75 USSR support for the rebel movement in CamDOBia.

The increasing role of Kiev as a trading city and border point from external enemies caused concentration of armed people in Kiev.
Under the hand of Prince Kievsky, an armed class was formed from a diverse military-trading people who had accumulated in the trade cities of Russia.
The military class with the Prince of Kiev at the head led the country's trade movement , sending boats with goods to Byzantium and other Black Sea and Caspian markets every year.
The military support of the trade cities was constituted by the city regiments, or thousands, who participated in the Princely campaigns under the command of the electoral merchants.

Until 11th century, society was divided into two categories: the conquerors and the vanquished.

Druzhina represented the administrative apparatus and the main military force of the Old Russian state. The most important duty of the druzhina was to ensure to collect tribute from the population.
The name druzhina is derived from the Slavic word drug (друг) with the meaning of «companion, friend». The English equivalent is retinue. In early Rus a druzhina helped the prince administer his principality and constituted the area's military force. The members of the local Slavic aristocracy as well as adventurers of a variety of other nationalities became druzhinniki. The druzhina organization varied with time and survived in one form or another until the 16th century.
The druzhina was composed of two groups: the senior members, later known as boyars,

and the junior members, later known as boyar scions. The boyars were the prince's closest advisers who also performed higher state functions.
The junior members constituted the prince's personal bodyguard and were common soldiers. Members were dependent upon their prince for financial support, but they served the prince freely and had the right to leave him and join the druzhina of another prince. As a result, a prince was inclined to seek the goodwill of his druzhina by paying the druzhinniki wages, sharing his war booty and taxes with them, and eventually rewarding the boyars with landed estates, complete with rights to tax and administer justice to the local population.
Senior druzhina of the Prince - Dumzi of Prince (professional military men, Princes of other provinces and boyars). Higher positions: posadniki (represented the power of the Kiev Prince and were in charge of branches of the Princely economy), heads of military.
The junior druzhina of the Prince: ordinary soldiers who were the military support of the power of the posadnik, the sons of the Prince's warriors: grid, youths, children. They occupied the lowest positions of the key-keepers, the grooms, and managed the less important territories.

In the initial period, the clergy was not a category in social structure, but was a separate and privileged class.
The legal position of the clergy in Kyivan Rus’ derived from the self-government of the church. The clergy constituted a social class with its own courts, whose jurisdiction extended not only to the priests, but also to groups associated with the church, known as church people (deacons, precentors, sextons, women who made the communion bread, and their families). Church property was exempt from state taxes. The church and the clergy in Kyivan Rus’ received a tithe from the prince's revenue. Sometimes persons of higher clerical rank, because of their education, had an influence on matters of state.
Beginning with Prince Vladimir church people were divided into categories as:
1. The clergy was divided into the lower (deacons, priests) and higher (the hierarchy or episcopate) clergy and into the secular (white) and regular (black) clergy. The secular clergy lives «in the world», among the people, and fulfils its spiritual functions among them in their religious communities. The white clergy could marry; therefore, there was a close bond with the people.
The regular (black) clergy, having renounced the world, lives in monasteries and devotes itself to prayer (the contemplative orders) or to prayer and works of Christian charity (schools, shelters, hospitals, and the like); it rarely has charge of parishes.
2. Layman, who served to the material needs of the church: prosvirnies and sveshegas (church attendant at the service).
3. Layman whose responsibilities were subject to the supervision of the clergy: midwives and doctors. They helped to monitor whether all newborns were baptized, and the dying people were instructed according to church rules. In addition, doctors were obliged to serve in hospitals, established and maintained by the church.
4. Layman who, due to illness or injury, lost their ability to work and who needed charitable support, such as blind, lame, crippled.
5. Layman asking for legal protection or material assistance such as pilgrims.
6. Layman by their own fault or accident, deprived of their rights or livelihood (rogues).

The greatest power in Kievan Rus were princes.
Princes care of law and justice, led the army, has taken a decision to defend the country, taking a direct part in military expeditions.
They forged relations with neighboring countries, concluded peace or declared war.
Thus, using modern terminology, we say that the prince of Rus was head of state lands, it emDOBied a quiet, ordinary life of society.
First, Kievan Rus’ was a relatively free society, especially by the European standards of the time. Its princes, even within their individual principalities, did not have anything like the absolute power Russia's later czars would wield. Princely power passed from father to son, that she was hereditary .

Of all the princes of Kyiv prince had the greatest power, the rest of the princes obeyed him as the oldest, most high. Such relations are called mizhknyazivski vasalitetom, and form of government - monarchy .
of the biggest peculiarities of this ancient Russian nobility is the non-existence of noble titles, as there were only ruling princes. Nobility and the quality of being noble were defined by the possession of blood ties to one of the grand families, mainly the Rurik Royal family.
Kievan society lacked the class institutions and autonomous towns that were typical of Western European feudalism. Nevertheless, urban merchants, artisans and labourers sometimes exercised political influence through a city assembly, the veche (council), which included all the adult males in the population. In some cases, the veche either made agreements with their rulers or expelled them and invited others to take their place. At the bottom of society was a stratum of slaves.
More important was a class of tribute-paying peasants, who owed labour duty to the princes. The widespread personal serfdom characteristic of Western Europe did not exist in Kievan Rus'.
The change in political structure led to the inevitable development of the peasant class or smerdy. The smerdy were free un-landed people that found work by labouring for wages on the manors (an estate in land) that began to develop around 1031 as the boyars began to dominate socio-political structure. The smerdy were initially given equality in the Kievian law code, they were theoretically equal to the prince, so they enjoyed as much freedom as can be expected of manual labourers. However, in the 13th century, they slowly began to lose their rights and became less equal in the eyes of the law.

A kholop was a feudally dependent person in Russia between the 10th and early 18th centuries. Their legal status was close to that of slaves.
The Russkaya Pravda, a legal code of the late Kievan Rus, details the status and types of kholops of the time.
In the 11th - 12th centuries, the term referred to different categories of dependent people and especially slaves. A kholop’s master had unlimited power over his life, e.g., he could kill him, sell him, or pay his way out of debt with him. The master, however, was responsible for a kholop’s actions, such as insulting a freeman or stealing.
A person could become a kholop as a result of capture, selling oneself, being sold for debts, after having committed crimes, or through marriage to a kholop. Until the late 15th century, the kholops represented a majority among the servants, who had been working lordly lands. Some kholops, mainly house serfs, replenished the ranks of the princely servants (including those in the military) or engaged themselves in trades, farming, or administrative activities.

The church had a strong influence on slavery and slaveholding rights:
1) The church introduced the custom of the charitable liberation of slaves by owner will.
2) Establishing a compulsory free release of serfs at will for:
1. Slaves mothers, who had children from their own master, after his death.
2. Slaves woman abused by a free person.
3. Slave or slaves who were injured by the fault of their master.

Russkaya Pravda or Rus' Justice - was the legal code of Kievan Rus' and the subsequent Rus' principalities during the times of feudal division. It was written at the beginning of the 12th century and remade during many centuries. The basis of the Russkaya Pravda, Pravda of Yaroslav was written at the beginning of the 11th century. Russkaya Pravda was a main source of Old Russian Law.

In the 12th century, 6 soslovie (sosloviye) were designated : boyars (privileged landowners), free citizens, smerdy (state peasants), zakupy (owner peasants), tiuns (privileged slaves), kholopy (ordinary slaves). They differed in political, economic (property) and legal (inequality of civil rights) signs.

Social estates in the Russian Empire were denoted by the term soslovie (sosloviye), which approximately corresponds to the notion of the estate of the realm. The system of sosloviyes was a peculiar system of social groups in the history of the Russian Empire. In Russian language the terms «сословие» and «состояние» (in the meaning of the civil/legal estate) were used interchangeably.
At the top were boyars. These members of the nobility took up the highest military and civil posts and also formed a supreme council, the Duma, from the early centuries of Kievan Rus (10th-12th) until the time of Peter the Great (17th), when he did away with the rank.
Besides the real aristocracy, a rich landowner could also be called a Boyar. A modified form – barin was used by serfs to address their masters until the 19th century.
They formed the upper class of Kievan society. The boyars were reciprocal with merchants and the urban elite on the land of Kiev by their legal status. Their immunities and rights were: free of taxes, to be landowner (just boyars), if a boyar or a druzhinnik dies, his estate does not return to the prince. If there are no sons, the daughters will inherit, the word of boyars was the evidence in the court, and Russkaya Pravda protected life and property of boyars more careful. Their duty was a military serving.
The clergy were a part of a free population and they were divided into secular (white) and regular (black) clergy. The regular clergy played the main role in the state at that time; it was the clergy of monks and nuns. They also didn’t pay taxes. The best scientists (Nestor, Marion, Nikon), doctors (Agapitus), artists (Alimpiy), who held chronicles, rewrote books, organized different schools, lived and worked in monasteries as well.
The middle group of free people was given by cities. Townsmen were legally free, but in fact, they were dependent on the feudal top. They paid taxes, repaired the roads and bridges, in case of war they had to carry a military service.
The lowest group of a free population was represented by peasants – smerdy (servs). They owned land and cattle. Smerdy formed the majority of the Kievan Rus’ population, they paid fixed taxes and they served in the compulsory military service with their own weapon and horses. Only smerd’s sons could inherit his property. Daughters could inherit only mother’s property. Russkaya Pravda protected a slave's property and his personality as well but a penalty for the crime against him was less, than for the crime against a boyar.
Half-dependent peoples were called zakupy. Russkaya Pravda protected this category of population by «Ustav pro zakupov». On their legal status they were equal to the free people. They could be a witnesses in a court, they paid taxes e. g. Zakup was called a person who took a loan (kupu). When he returned this ‘kupa’, he would be free again. If he doesn’t give it back in time, he would turn to slave.
Tiuns were the household managers who are in the service of the boyars or princes and are responsible for order. Fire, later name - palace, was responsible for the house, yard. Stable tiun, respectively, was responsible for horses and stalls, work at the stable. On the rural and ratayne lay field work, etc. Tiuns were the most necessary support and assistance for landowners, feudal lords in the administration and court. Most of them were not free. As «Russkaya Pravda» says, as soon as a person accepted a position called «T'iun», he passed into the category of those whom they call slaves. In order to preserve their freedom, it was necessary to conclude a special agreement. Russkaya Pravda also speaks of the «Tivunsky without a series» (this means the absence of a proper contract) as one of the sources of servility. Despite this, the social position of the princely tiunov was very high. For the murder of a rural or military - 12 hryvnia, for the murder of a boyars servant - 40 hryvnia. For the princely firewear installed the largest size - 80 hryvnia.
Slaughter-tiun allowed to be a witness in court, if there were no other, free, although the rule read «slaves obey to the slave.» At the same time, only the prince could conduct a trial on him. Secondary officials who belonged to the judicial and administrative authorities, also called tiunami. They were appointed princes, volostely or governors.
Dependent people were called slaves (kholopy). First only men were called so, but some time later all dependent people were called so. They were equal to the things; they had no rights, any property (they were property); they could be sold, changed, pawned; the owner bore the responsibility for the crimes committed by slave, and, in other hand, owner took fines for the crimes against his slave. The sources of slavery were: birth from slave, prisoners of war, marriage with slave, self-selling, runaway or non-payment debt zakup. The Russkaya Pravda also contained the norms which protected this category of population - «Ustav pro kholopov».
All categories of population weren’t closed. For example, smerd could turn in merchant, or boyar (for certain services to the state prince could grant a land and title). Or merchant could fail and become an izgoy. These were people who didn’t belong to any of other categories. There was no question of all being equal under the law: the rape or abduction of the daughter of a boyar merited compensation of 5 grivnas in gold and the same sum as a fine for the bishop; but only one grivna of gold was demanded for the rape or abduction of a daughter of 'lesser boyars', and smaller sums further down the social scale.

The Russian nobility (Russian: дворянство dvoryanstvo) arose in the 12th and 13th centuries as the lowest part of the feudal military class, which comprised the court of a prince or an important boyar.
The Russian word for nobility, dvoryanstvo (дворянство), derives from Slavonic dvor (двор), meaning the court of a prince (kniaz), and later, of the tsar or emperor. Here, dvor originally referred to servants at the estate of an aristocrat.
From the 14th-century land ownership by nobles increased, and by the 17th century, the bulk of feudal lords and the majority of landowners were nobles. The nobles were granted estates (pomestie) out of State lands in return for their service to the Prince, either for as long as they performed service or for their lifetime.
Pomestie, service landholding, was a parcel of land (hopefully inhabited by rent-paying peasants, later serfs in exchange for which the holder (not owner) had to render lifelong service to the state, typically military service, but occasionally service in the government bureaucracy.
It means, unlike boyars patrimony (hereditary property), dvoryanstvo estates (pomestie) were temporary possession.

The political fragmentation did not make fundamental changes to the state structure of the Kieran Rus principalities. With the weakening of the Prince’s power, the economic power of the boyars increased, their political influence, their desire for independence increased.
The palace-patrimonial control system was developed, in which control was exercised from the Princely palace by its apparatus without separation into public and private functions.
In the Galicia-Volyn principality, and in the Novgorod and Pskov republics, the boyars solved all matters with the help of boyar councils.
The influence of the boyars in the Chernigov, Polotsk, Minsk, Murom-Ryazan Princedoms was so great that these principalities could not form a strong princely power.

In the Kievan Rus, people involved in trade were traditionally referred to by three names: gosti (literally, guests), i.e. wealthy powerful merchants involved in international trade or foreign merchants; kuptsy (literally, merchants), i.e. any local merchant, and torgovtsy (literally, traders), i.e. small dealers in commodities.
A posad (Russian: посад) was the center of trade in Kievan Rus. Merchants and craftsmen resided there and sold goods such as pottery, armor, glass and copperware, icons, and clothing; as well as food, wax, and salt. Most large cities were adjoined by a posad, frequently situated below the main citadel and by a river. Posads were sometimes fortified with earthen walls.
Membership in the community became hereditary, and posad residents were expected to pay taxes and perform other duties to the state. Leaving the posad required the permission of an elected official. Until the 18th century, the posad had its own elected assembly, the «posadskiy skhod,» though the wealthiest members of the posad tended to dominate the governance of the community in «a tight self-perpetuating oligarchy.»

The unruly Feudal Rurik Princes and Boyars were always a limitation to Royal Power, and therefore, they had to be constrained. Consequently, Ivan III, Grand Duke and Prince of Moscow compelled all appanaged Princes to cede their territorial princedoms and receive in compensation large landed estates of a feudal but private nature. In addition, in order to make the princes and boyars more compliant with the monarchy, a very clever trick was instituted.
Genealogical Register - Ivan III founded a Genealogical Register, in which the former ruling Princes were inscribed along with the Moscow boyars. It was a very important step in favor of the unification of the Russian Nobility into a single social class.

Mesnichestvo Law - Ivan III took the second step towards the fusion and merger of the princes and Boyars into a nobility dependant of the monarchy, By Mesnichestvo noble rank and social position was to be considered according to the dignity held by fathers and grandparents either at court or at the army. This Law was in force until 1682. The direct consequence of this was that the concept of hereditary nobility was introduced in Russia, as Boyars were made hereditary noblemen.
Ivan III increasingly held aloof from his boyars. The old patriarchal systems of government vanished. The boyars were no longer consulted on affairs of state. The sovereign became sacrosanct, while the boyars were reduced to dependency on the will of the sovereign. The boyars naturally resented this revolution and struggled against it.
The boyars were no longer nomadic (able to move from place to place), but attached to the Court.
Gosudarev Dvor (Sovereign's Court) was formed under Ivan III.
The truest Russian word for their Emperor is not Tsar, but Gosudar, which rightly means master.
The 3 highest grades of Russian officialdom at Gosudarev Dvor:
Boyars - as Gosudar close comrades and trusty counsellors.
Okolnichie - first appeared at a much later date, when a regular Court had become established. They were preeminently courtiers, and acted at first as masters of the ceremonies, introducers of ambassadors, and grand heralds. But at a later day they held no particular office, but simply ranked as the second class of the official hierarchy, the boyars being the first.
Dumnuie dvoryane, or «nobles of the Council» - the third grade was held by those who had not yet attained to the boyartsvo or boyardom, and yet were members of the Tsar's Council.
Attached to these three first grades were the four dumnuie d'yaki, or clerks of the Council. They conducted the whole business of the Council, and being men of great experience, and relatively learned, were the Tsar's principal advisers, and necessarily enjoyed great influence in a state where the wielders of the sword could not always handle the pen.
A dyak was a title of the chief of a structural division of a prikaz. For example, posolsky dyak is a dyak of the Posolsky Prikaz (Diplomacy Department). A duma dyak was the lowest rank in the Boyar Duma (15-17th centuries).
A Podyachy or podyachiy (Russian: подьячий; from the Greek hypodiakonos, «assistant servant») was an office (bureaucratic) occupation in prikazes (local and upper governmental offices) and lesser local offices of Russia in 15th-18th centuries.
The Session of the Great Gosudar and his Boyars - the boyars sitting at a little distance from the Tsar on rows of benches according to rank, first the boyars, then the okol'nichie and then the dumnuie dvoryane, while the dumnuie d'yaki remained standing unless the Tsar bade them be seated.
Sovyetnuie lyudi, or «national councils,» - representatives of all soslovie, including the merchants and artificers, were held under the presidency of the Tsar on very urgent occasions, such as the beginning of a war when extraordinary subsidies were required.
Russian church - until the middle of the 15th century the Russian church belonged to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and had no independent governance. After the fall of Byzantium to Ottomans, Metropolitan of Moscow gained its independence -from the Church of the Constantinople Patriarchate.
1448 The Council of Russian bishops, regardless of Constantinople, elected for cathedra the Metropolitan of Moscow and All Russia, Bishop of Ryazan Jonah, marking the beginning of autocephalous status of the Russian Orthodox Church.

By the mid-16th century the chernososhnye krest’iane had disappeared in central Russia but remained in the northern areas of European Russia and in Siberia, where they were known as pashennye liudi (plowmen). At the end of the 17th century they numbered more than 50,000 households. In the 16th and 17th centuries agricultural land, including plowland, was divided up and privately held by the families of the chernososhnye krest’iane; the bulk of the pastureland and the forests and rivers were communally owned and used.
In the mid-16th century property and social distinctions emerged. Great merchants and entrepreneurs, such as the Amosovs, Bosyis, Gusel’nikovs, and Stroganovs, came from the ranks of the chernososhnye krest’iane.

The reform of the land of Ivan IV expanded the administrative, judicial, and financial responsibilities of elected DOBies in the volosts (small rural districts) inhabited by the chernososhnye krest’iane; the DOBies were headed by the richest peasants.
From the end of the 16th century the government increased the taxes paid by the chernososhnye krest’iane, restricted their rights to dispose of land, and imposed limitations on local self-administration. Under the reforms of Peter the Great, the chernososhnye krest’iane became part of the state peasants.
During the reign of Ivan IV the Terrible several important events occurred concerning the pomestie:
1) The government advanced the service state significantly in 1556 by decreeing that all holders of service estates (pomestie) and hereditary estates (votchiny )had to render the same quantity of military service (i.e., provide one mounted cavalryman per 100 cheti of land actually possessed).
2) During Ivan's reign sons began to succeed to their fathers' service landholdings when their fathers died or could no longer render the required lifetime service.
3) During Ivan's Oprichnina, service landholders were given control over their peasants, including the right to set the level of rent payments (a change that caused massive peasant flight from the center to the expanding frontiers).
4) The Oprichnina exterminated so many owners of hereditary estates (boyars) that it appeared as though outright ownership of land was on the verge of extinction.

In the second half of the 16th century, the traders and merchants of the Russian cities were collectively named posadskie lyudi, i.e. people residing at the posad, outskirts of towns, outside the city walls.
By the late 1500s, Russian merchants were organized in three groups: gosti, trading people of the gostinnaya sotnya (literally: the guests' hundred) and the mercers' sotnya (sukonnaya sotnya).

1555-56 Administrative reform - local officials should be elected instead of being ruled by centrally appointed namestniki (officials exercising delegated power on behalf of the prince).
This was really a way of passing the burden of administrative service by local populations so that resources previously used for kormlenie or «feeding» of namestniki could be transferred to Moscow.
The social status of kormlenie-holders ranged from top-level boyars acting as vicegerents in large prosperous cities to cavalrymen who were entitled to collect certain fees in small rural communities, which were often situated far away from the cavalrymen’s home towns. In some instances the cost of visiting such remote territories was higher than the amount of due income, a situation that caused some cavalrymen to farm out their kormlenie revenues.

Also this reform moved the principle of the pomestye from military to administrative service.
The holders of pomestie estates (dvoryane) were primarily members of the provincial middle service class cavalry who began to live directly on their service landholdings. This experience convinced them that they had the right to consider the pomestie as their personal property, which not only could be left to their male heirs, but also could be alienated like votchina property: sold, donated to monasteries, given to anyone, used as a dowry, and so forth. This project became the goal of dvoryane to enserf the peasantry. Such aspirations totally violated the initial purpose of the pomestie and undermined the basic principles of the service state.

1555 Gosudarev Rodoslovets - book featuring the family trees of Rurikid and Gediminid princely houses.
An important addendum contains a set of genealogies prepared by the non-princely noble families on the basis of their family records. As it was fashionable to trace one's blood line back to a foreign immigrant, all sorts of fantasy genealogies abound.
Russian church: -
Prior to the establishment of the patriarchate, the Russian church was headed by Metropolitan.
1589 Jeremias II of Constantinople was enthroned as the first Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia - and after negotiations with Boris Godunov (the Regent for Tsar Feodor 1 of Russia).
He also known as Job (Russian: Иов) of Moscow . Job of Moscow is a saint of the Orthodox Church.

1613 Michael Romanov grated a Charter to merchants and guests, freeing them from the control of the sheriffs and chancellors (also freeing from payment of all taxes and dues).
Guests were empowered to possess estates.
The merchants of the corporations weree entrusted with the management of state trade and industry.
Other powerful citizens, usually merchants or manufacturers, conducted affairs of these towns.
Below them, enrolled into communes and guilds, were tradesmen and craftsmen, were subject to the control of such chancellors as those dealing with construction and armaments.

1649 The distinction between the pomestie (dvoryane) and the votchina(boyars) were retained by the Law Code, but the distinctions were fading in reality. During the first half of the 17th century, the pomestie essentially became hereditary property, but service still was compulsory and holders could not freely alienate it. During the Thirteen Years War (1654–1667), new formation military units began to replace the obsolescent middle service class cavalry, and after 1667 the service state nearly disintegrated. With it went the principle that service was compulsory from pomestie land.

1682 The mestnichestvo was abolished by Feodor 3 of Russia.
With the developing autocracy, where the core principle was the creation of a central bureaucracy reporting directly to the tsar, the role of the mestnichestvo was progressively reduced. Moreover, increasing defense needs required that the top military posts be occupied by capable officers, not ancestry-proud but inept boyars. Consequently, the available genealogical data was made public as the so-called Velvet Book, whereas the ancient pedigree books were burnt, to the great consternation and dismay of established boyar families.
The Velvet Book (barthatnaia knega) - established and commissioned by the Tsar Fedor, elder brother of the future Tsar Peter the Great. The book would mention and register all the nobility of Russia. It was based on the ancient genealogical records compiled under the Mesnichestvo ancient laws. This book was bounded in Red Velvet, and came to be known as The Velvet Book (barthatnaia knega). All the hereditary boyars and princely families were there.
The ancient pedigree books were burnt, to the great consternation and dismay of established boyar families.

1699-1724 Government reform by Peter the Great allowed to the towns to elect their own officials, collect revenue and stimulate trade - in an effort to reduce the power of provincial governments. In 1702 towns were governed by an elective board which replaced the old system of elected sheriffs. By 1724 towns could govern themselves through elected guilds of better off citizens. On paper these reforms were fine. But in reality the power of the local landlord and the provincial governor was immense and difficult to break.

Peter the Great finalized the status of the nobility, while abolishing the boyar title.
Dvoryane should perform military service or for their lifetime, starting the age of 15.

State peasants were registered officially by the ukases of Peter the Great from among the rural population that had not been enserfed (the chernososhnye krest’iane, sharecroppers (polovnikt) of the northern Pomor’e, the Siberian plowland (pashennye) peasants, the odnodvortsy, and the non-Russian nationalities of the Volga and Ural regions).

Russian nobility titles were created by the first time by Tsar Peter the Grea - many prominent families needed to be rewarded.
Three types of Russian noble titles were created: Prince, Count and Baron.
The first Prince ever created in Russia was Menshikov. The first Russian Count in the nobility of Russia was Field Marshall Scheremeteff. The first Russian Baron ever created in the Russian nobility was the Vice-Chancellor Schafiroff.
1721 Most Holy Synod - established by Peter I, in the course of his church reform. Its establishment was followed by the abolition of the Patriarchate. The Synod was composed partly of ecclesiastical persons, partly of laymen appointed by the Tsar.
The Most Holy Governing Synod was the highest governing body of the Russian Orthodox Church between 1721 and 1918 (1918 is when the Church re-instated the Patriarchate). The jurisdiction of the Most Holy Synod extended over every kind of ecclesiastical question and over some partly secular matters.

1722 The Tsar Peter I created a House of Nobles, placing at its head a Herald Master.

1722 The Table of Ranks was a formal list of positions and ranks in the military, government, and court of Imperial Russia, introduced by Peter the Great.
The Table of Ranks re-organized the foundations of feudal Russian nobility (mestnichestvo) by recognising service in the military, in the civil service, and at the imperial court as the basis of an aristocrat's standing in society. The table divided ranks in 14 grades, with all nobles regardless of birth or wealth (at least in theory) beginning at the bottom of the table and rising through their service (sluzhba) to the tsar. The effect of the Table of Ranks was to create an educated class of noble bureaucrats.

1736 Tsarina Anna changed the age at which nobles had to start service from 15 to 20 and length of service was changed to 25 years instead of life and families with more than one son could keep one to manage the family estate.

1762 Peter III freed the nobility from obligatory civil and military service, allowing them to pursue personal interests. While some used this liberty as an excuse to lead lavish lives of leisure, a select group became increasingly educated in Western ideas through schooling, reading, and travel.
1785 Charter to the Gentry - the privileges of the nobility were fixed and were legally codified by Catherine the Great. The Charter introduced an organization of the nobility: every province (guberniya) and district (uyezd) had an Assembly of Nobility.
Classification of the Nobility of Russia to six groups by Catherine the Great:
1. Untitled Noblemen ennobled by Diploma or Letters patent.
2. The Military Nobility.
3. The Civil Nobility.
4. The Foreign Nobility.
5. The Princes, Counts and Barons created by Letters Patent.
6. The Old Princes and Nobles whose ancestors were registered in the Velvet Book.
Catherine also made specific reforms in institutional education. She based Russian education on that of Austria, and in 1786 a standardized curriculum to be taught in newly created public schools. Many members of the lower soslovie were allowed into these schools, Catherine hoped that they could become educated enough to rise through the Table of Ranks and eventually become nobles themselves.

1785 The Charter of the Cities (Charter on the Rights and Benefits for the Towns of the Russian Empire).
The Charter instituted an urban corporation comprising six categories of inhabitants:
1) owners of immoveable property (houses, shops, land);
2) merchants in three guilds (delineated by self-declared capital);
3) artisans in craft corporations;
4) merchants from other towns or governments;
5) «eminent» citizens (by education, wealth, or public service);
6) long-time residents unqualified for other categories but earning a living in town. There are detailed instructions for establishing eligibility and compiling registries of all these groups.
Each category elected representatives to a town council.
1785 Charter for State Peasants - was composed, but never issued. All three charters were intended as a single body of legislation establishing definitions, duties, rights, and privileges for three important legal estates.

1832 «Laws about Estates» - the Code of the Law of the Russian Empire.
The Laws defined 4 major estates (sosloviye): dvoryans (nobility), clergy, urban dwellers and rural dwellers (peasants). There also existed the military estate.
Also more detailed categories were recognized:
Clergy was subdivided into «white» (priests) and «black» (monks).
Urban dwellers were categorized into hereditary distinguished citizens, personal distinguished citizens, merchantry, urban commoners, and guilded craftspeople. Urban commoners included people who had some real estate in a town, were engaged in some trade, craft, or service, and paid taxes.

The rural dwellers category also included the inorodtsy estate, that included non-Russian and non-Orthodox native peoples of Siberia, Central Asia or Caucasus.
A separate category, not assigned to any of the above estates were raznochintsy (literally «persons of miscellaneous ranks», but in fact having no rank at all).
A separate stratification existed for governmental bureaucracy, who were classified according to the Table of Ranks. The higher ranks belonged to the sosloviye of dvoryanstvo.
Finally, in Siberia, the estate of «exiled» was officially recognized, with the subcategory of «exiled nobility».

1832 Manifesto of Nicholas I declared the institution of distinguished citizenship (or two categories) . The distinguished citizens ranked above merchantry and below nobility. They were freed of personal taxes, military service obligation, corporal punishments, etc. Distinguished citizenship was available for persons with a scientific or scholar degree, graduates of certain schools, people of arts and distinguished merchants and industrialists subject to certain conditions.
The estates were classified into two major groups: taxable estates, which had to pay the personal tax, and non-taxable ones.

Second half of the 19th century - with the abolishment of the serfdom in Russia and the development of capitalism (industrial development, urbanization, and economic growth) the estate paradigm no longer corresponded to the actual socio-economical stratification of the population, but the terminology was in use until the Russian Revolution of 1917. The transition from feudalism (soslovie estate system) to capitalism (classes) was characteristic of 19th century in Russia.

1864 Zemstvos - the elected assemblies at the provincial and county levels by all classes including the peasants, although the landowning nobility had a disproportionately large share of both the votes and the seats.

1897 Census categorized the Russian people into 4 classes:
Upper classes: Royalty, nobility, higher clergy: 12.5%.
Middle classes: Merchants, bureaucrats, professionals: 1.5%.
Working classes: Factory workers, artisans, soldiers, sailors: 4%.
Peasants: Landed and landless farmers: 82%.

Upper classes:
Noble titles and land ownership were the main determinants of privilege in tsarist Russia. The tsar himself was a significant landowner, holding the title of up to 10% of land in western Russia. The Russian Orthodox church and its higher clergy also owned large tracts of land.
Protective of their wealth and privilege, Russia’s landed aristocracy was arguably the most conservative force in the empire. The abolition of serfdom in 1861 allowed many of them to increase their landholdings, largely at the expense of the state and emancipated serfs.
The middle classes:
Russia’s middle classes worked for the state (usually in the higher ranks of the bureaucracy) or the private sector, either as small business owners or trained professionals (such as doctors, lawyers and managers).
Industrial growth in the 1890s helped to expand the middle classes by increasing the ranks of factory owners, businessmen and entrepreneurs. Members of this group tended to be educated, worldly and receptive to liberal, democratic and reformist ideas.
Members of the middle-class were prominent in political groups like the Kadets (Constitutional Democrats) and, later, well represented in the State Duma.
Working classes:
During the 1890s Russia's industrial development led to a large increase in the size of the working class and of the urban middle class, which gave rise to a more dynamic political atmosphere and the development of radical parties. Because the state and foreigners owned much of Russia's industry, the Russian working class was comparatively stronger and the Russian bourgeoisie comparatively weaker than in the West.
The working class and the peasants became the first to establish political parties in Russia, because the nobility and the wealthy bourgeoisie were politically timid. During the 1890s and early 1900s, bad living- and working-conditions, high taxes and land hunger gave rise to more frequent strikes and agrarian disorders. These activities prompted the bourgeoisie of various nationalities in the Russian Empire to develop a host of different parties, both liberal and conservative.
The peasantry:
The peasantry was by far the empire’s largest social class. It contained at least 4 out of every 5 Russians. Most worked small plots of land using methods of farming that had changed little since the Middle Ages.
Farming in Russia was a difficult business that was dictated by the soil and the weather. Russian farming was further hindered by its reliance on antiquated methods and techniques, without the benefit of machinery or chemical fertilizers.
There was little or no formal education so the majority of peasants were illiterate. Many were intensely religious and superstition to the point of medievalism.
Russia had one of the highest child mortality rates of the Western world. By the late 1800s, around 47% of children in rural areas did not survive to their fifth birthday.

Post-1861 changes
Before 1861 most Russian peasants had been serfs and possessed no legal status or rights as free men. Alexander II emancipation edict gave them freedom of movement and other rights – but the land redistribution that followed left thousands of peasants worse off than before.
After the emancipation, the best tracts of farmland were usually allocated to land-owning nobles. They kept it for themselves or leased it for high rents. The former serfs were left with whatever remained but were obliged to make 49 annual redemption payments to the government – in effect, a 49-year state mortgage. These redemption payments were often higher than the rent and land taxes they paid before 1861.
Some common land was also controlled and allocated by the obshchina or mir (peasant commune). The mir was also responsible for other administrative duties, such as the collection of taxes and the supply of conscripts to the Imperial Army.
Few peasants had any understanding of government, politics or economics. But for all their political apathy, the peasantry was occasionally roused to action – particularly by changes that affected them directly, such as food shortages or new taxes. There were significant peasant protests in 1894 when the government introduced a state monopoly on vodka production (previously, the peasants could distil their own, provided they paid a small excise to the state).
Many peasants were also receptive to anti-Semitic propaganda that blamed Russia’s Jews for everything from harvest failures to missing children. Whipped up by rumours and agitators, peasant gangs carried out dozens of pogroms in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Peasant unrest and violence would erupt during the 1905 Revolution, though it was directed at land-owners more than the government.

Generally in 19 century:
1. Russian society of comprised of more than 125 million people. There was significant diversity of ethnicity, language and culture.
2. The dominant classes were royalty, aristocracy and land-owners, who wielded significant political influence.
3. Russia’s middle class was small in comparison to other nations but was growing by the early 1900s.
4. The peasantry made up by far the largest section, most living in small communities scattered across the empire.
5. Russian society was intensely patriarchal, with men dominant in most spheres of decision-making and women denied many legal and civil rights.

Before 1917 October Revolution:
Peasants: growing numbers of peasant villagers migrated to and from industrial and urban environments. They still resented paying redemption payments to the state. Russia consisted mainly of poor farming peasants and substantial inequality of land ownership, with 1.5% of the population owning 25% of the land.
Workers: urban overcrowding (between 1890 and 1910, the population of Saint Petersburg swelled from 1,033,600 to 1,905,600), overcrowded housing (1904 survey - an average of 16 people shared each apartment in Saint Petersburg, with 6 people per room) with often deplorable sanitary conditions, long hours at work (~10-12-hour workday 6 days a week), constant risk of injury and death from poor safety and sanitary conditions, harsh discipline, inadequate wages.

All these conditions made worse after 1914 by steep wartime increases in the cost of living). Workers living in cities were highly concentrated and exposed to new ideas about the social and political order.
Right after 1917 October Revolution:
The Decree Abolishing Classes and Civil Ranks was a decree intended to abolish the estates and estate legal instruments — classes, titles and civil ranks of the Russian Empire on the territory of Soviet Russia, to introduce the legal equality of all citizens of the new state.
The decree contained the following basic provisions: 1. All the estates and class divisions of citizens that existed before in Russia, the estate privileges and restrictions, the estate organizations and institutions, as well as all civil ranks are abolished. 2. Any titles (nobleman, merchant, tradesman, peasant, etc., princely, county titles, etc.) and the name of civilian officials (secret, state and other advisers) are destroyed and one common name for the entire Russian population is established — citizens of the Russian Republic. General categories of Soviet society:
4 major socio-occupational groupings: the political-governmental elite and cultural and scientific intelligentsia; white-collar workers; blue-collar workers; and peasants and other agricultural workers.
Soviet ideology held that Soviet society consisted solely of two nonantagonistic classes -workers and peasants. Those engaged in nonmanual labor (from bookkeepers to party functionaries) formed strata in both classes.
Social position was determined not only by occupation but also by education, party membership, place of residence, and even nationality. Membership in the ruling group, the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU), aided career advancement. Those who worked full time for the party received political power, special privileges, and financial benefits. Social status increased the higher one was promoted in the party, but this power was derived from position and could neither be inherited from nor be bequeathed to relatives.
The Soviet regime glorified manual labor and often paid higher wages to certain types of skilled laborers than to many white-collar workers, including physicians, engineers, and teachers. These professionals, however, enjoyed higher social prestige than the better-paid laborers. Considerable differences existed among the country's various social and economic groups.
Soviet statistics showed that the income for many occupations was not sufficient to support a family, even if both spouses worked. These statistics on income, however, did not take into account money or benefits derived from the unofficial economy, that is, the black market in goods and services.
The largest official social organizations, such as the trade unions, youth organizations, and sports organizations, were tightly controlled by the state. Unofficial organizations, once banned, were becoming increasingly evident in the late 1980s.
Under the Soviet Constitution, women possessed equal rights with men and were granted special benefits, such as paid maternity leave for child-bearing. At the same time, women as a group were overrepresented in the lower-paid occupations and underrepresented in high positions in the economy, government, and the party. If married, they performed most of the homemaking chores in addition to their work outside the home. This overwork, coupled with crowded housing conditions, contributed to a high rate of divorce and abortion.

end of the 80s Model of society after Perestroika:
1) the political-governmental elite;
2) economic elite, oligarchs and top managers, «new Russians»;
3) medium business; media elite and small business, managers;
4) professionals with high salaries - lawyers, programmers, accountants, skilled workers;
5) intelligentsia, employees and workers with low salaries;
6) collective farmers and workers with low salaries;
7) marginalized (situated between various social groups) layers.

Literature

862-63 The Cyrillic alphabet owes its name to the 9th century Byzantine missionary St. Cyril, who, along with his brother, Methodius, created the first Slavic alphabet—the Glagolitic—in order to translate Greek religious text to Slavic.
Prince Rastislav of Great Moravia requested that Emperor Michael III and the Patriarch Photius from Constantinople (Byzantine) send missionaries to evangelize his Slavic subjects. The Emperor quickly chose to send Cyril, accompanied by his brother Methodius. In 863, they began the task of translating the Bible into the language now known as Old Church Slavonic and travelled to Great Moravia to promote it.
For the purpose of this mission, they devised the Glagolitic alphabet, the first alphabet to be used for Slavonic manuscripts. The Glagolitic alphabet was suited to match the specific features of the Slavic language.

There are still no single opinion, when its descendant script, the Cyrillic alphabet, was developed. More likely it was developed in the First Bulgarian Empire during the 10th century AD by the followers of the brothers. The Cyrillic is still used by many languages today.
The brothers Cyril and Methodius wrote the first Slavic Civil Code, which was used in Great Moravia. The language derived from Old Church Slavonic, known as Church Slavonic, is still used in liturgy by several Orthodox Churches and also in some Eastern Catholic churches.
The brothers translated portions of the Bible. The New Testament and the Psalms seem to have been the first, followed by other lessons from the Old Testament.
For their work evangelizing the Slavs, they are known as the «Apostles to the Slavs».
After their deaths, their pupils continued their missionary work among other Slavs.
Both brothers are venerated in the Orthodox Church as Saints with the title of «equal-to-apostles».

This new cultural era dates back to the adoption of Christianity in 989, when the principalities of Kievan Rus' came under the sphere of influence of the Byzantine Empire, one of the most advanced cultures of the time.
Thus, Kievan Rus' became part of the broader Christian world, under Byzantium's influence. Byzantium remained the only direct successor of the Hellenistic world, which had applied the artistic achievements of antiquity to the spiritual experience of Christianity. Byzantine culture differed from the rest of the world by its refined taste and sophistication.
The absorbing of this foreign culture with its long traditions was an active, creative process in keeping with the internal requirements of the Old Russian state, and that it stimulated the emergence of an original literature.

The peculiarities of the first «Russian» works of art, created by the «visiting» Greeks, were the ambitions of the young Russian state and its princely authority. Byzantine influence, however, couldn't spread quickly over the enormous territory of Rus' lands, and their Christianization would take several centuries.
There are different concepts on the correlation of Christianity and pagan beliefs among the East Slavs. Popular culture has long been defined by pagan beliefs, especially in the remote regions of Kievan Rus'.
With the adoption of Christianity, the principalities of Rus' became part of a book culture. Although written language had been in use in the Russian lands for quite some time, it was only after the baptism of Rus' that written language spread throughout the principalities. The development of the local literary language was associated with Christianity, and strongly influenced by Old Church Slavonic.
Patristic (or patrology) - the writings of Roman and Byzantine theologians of the third to eleventh centuries who were revered as “Church Fathers” (Greek patros and Latin pater mean “father”, hence the name given to their writings—patristics).
The writings of the Church Fathers substantiated and commented upon the basic precepts of the Christian religion, carried on polemics with heretics, and expounded principles of Christian morality or rules of monastic life in the form of instructions and exhortations.
Parable came into Russian literature along with the first translations of the texts of Scripture.
Fable, parable, and allegory, any form of imaginative literature or spoken utterance constructed in such a way that readers or listeners are encouraged to look for meanings hidden beneath the literal surface of the fiction.
Preaching was also a literary form in Ancient Russia. The first sermons were translated works in the collections of Byzantine authors.
Apocryphal as a literary form (Apocrypha from Greek apokryptein, «to hide away»)- legends about Biblical personages, which differed from those contained in the canonical books of the Bible. For Ancient Russian mind «an easy understanding of Holy Scripture was unattainable», the Bible was in need for interpretation.
Originally there was a distinction between apocryphas intended for readers well versed in theological matters, who could interpret the apocryphal versions in line with the traditional ones, and the «proscribed books» containing heretical views which were clearly hostile to orthodox beliefs. But the borderline between apocryphal and proscribed books was not a strict one, different writers took different views of them, and therefore both groups of writing are usually considered within the framework of apocryphal literature as a whole.
The official Church at first prized, later tolerated, and finally excluded these writings.
Apocrypha texts were divided by related to Old Testament (story of Adam and Eve, kings Solomon and David), and New Testament (life of Jesus Christ).
At the time when Greek was the common spoken language in the Mediterranean region, the Old Testament—the Hebrew Bible—was incomprehensible to most of the population. For this reason, Jewish scholars produced a translations of the Old Testament books from various Hebrew texts into Greek.

from 11th to 18th centuries Ancient Rus' Chronicles (Letopisi) - the main type of Old Russian historical literature. The Chronicles are one of the leading genres Old Kievan Russ literature and among the most extensive monuments to it.
There were two centers of Russian Chronicle preparation in this early period: Kiev (the capital of early Rus') and Novgorod.
1016-1471 The Novgorod First Chronicle (The Chronicle of Novgorod) - the most ancient extant Old Russian chronicle of the Novgorodian Rus'.
The scholar named it «Primary Svod» (Collection) and dated as the end of 11th century. This svod was also a basis for Primary Chronicle of 12th century.

Letopises are the only historical source for Ancient Rus' scholars – they describe systems of power and relations between Slavic tribes and the rest of the world. It is the one and only tool to define the age of a city or township. The year the city appeared in a letopis was considered the year of its foundation.
Hagiography - the vitae, i.e., stories about the life, sufferings or pious acts of people canonized by the Church, that is, officially recognized as saints whom it was permissible to worship. A hagiographic account of an individual saint can consist of a biography (vita), a description of the saint's deeds or miracles, an account of the saint's martyrdom (passio), or be a combination of these.
Eventually the Bulgarians brought this genre to Kievan Rus' together with writing and also in translations from the Greek language. In the 11th century, the Rus' began to compile the original life stories of the first Russian saints.
11th century Lives of Boris and Gleb - a masterpiece of hagiography by Nestor the Chronicler and Jacob the Monk. Saint Nestor the Chronicler (~1056 – 1114 ) was a monk of the Monastery of the Caves in Kiev.
11th century Paterica - collections of short stories usually about monks famed for their piety or asceticism, were well known in Kievan Russia.
In the Russian paterica and vitae (hagiography) episodes and descriptions often borrowed from Byzantine patericon legends.
Yaroslav the Wise - a notable patron of book culture and learning.
1051 Yaroslav the Wise proclaimed Hilarion of Kiev to be the metropolitan bishop of Kiev. Thus challenged the Byzantine tradition of placing Greeks on the Episcopal sees.
Hilarion's discourse on Yaroslav and his father Vladimir is frequently cited as the first work of Old East Slavic literature.
~1037 - 1050 «Sermon on Law» (the Law given by Moses and the Grace and Truth which came by Jesus Christ) and Grace by the Kievan Metropolitan Hilarion - one of the earliest Slavonic texts available, having been written several decades before the Primary Chronicle. Since Hilarion was considered to be a writer worthy of imitation, this sermon was very influential in the further development of both the style and content of Kievan Rus' literature.
1091 The relics of Theodosius of Kiev or Theodosius of the Caves discovered by St. Nestor the Chronicler.
Theodosius of the Caves is an 11th-century saint who brought Cenobitic Monasticism to Kievan Rus' and, together with St Anthony of Kiev, founded the Kiev Caves Lavra (Monastery of the Caves). A hagiography of Theodosius was written in the12th century.
1099 Instruction (The Testament) by Vladimir Monomakh to his children - an example of teaching and didactic literature. Monomakh mentions that he conducted 83 military campaigns and 19 times made peace with the Polovtsi.
Vladimir Monomakh was also noted as a builder; he founded the city of Vladimir, which by the end of the 12th century replaced Kiev as the seat of the grand prince.
11-14 centuries Slavonic apocryphal pilgrimage literature - the widespread knowledge of literature through liturgical tradition and oral legends attested in a complex of «holy books» where the apocryphal and legendary motifs enrich and complete the understanding of sacred history characters and events.
Religious pilgrims (kaliki perekhozhie) traveled to Tsargrad (Constantinople) or the Holy Land, as a rule formed groups that choose a leader for themselves (and ataman), and may have received special dispensions from the church. They were often blind or handicapped, and performed their songs, especially on religious holidays, at churches, monasteries and fairs.

~1113 Primary Chronicle or Rus' (RPC) by St. Nestor the Chronicler (The Tale of Bygone Years) - a history of the Kyivan Rus' from about 850 to 1110.
The work is considered to be a fundamental source in the interpretation of the history of the East Slavs. The historical period covered in the Tale of Bygone Years begins with biblical times, and regards to the origin of the land of Rus', the first princes of Kyiv, and from what source the land of Rus' had its beginning.
Metropolitan 1147-1155 Klim (Kliment) Smoliatich - Metropolitan of Kiev and All-Rus', an erudite sermonizer and philosopher. His best-known work is Poslaniie do presvitera Khomy (Letter to Presbyter Khoma), which has survived in two manuscript forms. It contains a symbolic explanation of the Holy Scriptures, and demonstrates his knowledge of Homer, Plato, and Aristotle.

DOB 1130–1182 Cyril of Turov (Kirill of Turov) - a writer, a bishop and saint, one of the first and finest theologians of Kievan Rus'; he lived in Turov, now southern Belarus'.
He was a master of Orthodox theology and the Byzantine style of writing. Cyril's sermon is one of his best known works. Cyril also exerted influence on subsequent generations of East Slavs (continuing through the 17th century).
late 12th century The Tale of Igor's Campaign - an anonymous epic poem written in the Old East Slavic language. The title is occasionally translated as The Tale of the Campaign of Igor, The Song of Igor's Campaign, The Lay of Igor's Campaign, The Lay of the Host of Igor, and The Lay of the Warfare Waged by Igor.
The poem gives an account of a failed raid of Igor Svyatoslavich against the Polovtsians of the Don River region.
The descriptions show coexistence between Christianity and ancient Slavic religion. Igor's wife Yaroslavna invokes natural forces from the walls of Putyvl. Christian motifs are presented along with depersonalized pagan gods as among the artistic images.
~12 century Numerous translations of historical military events and wars.
The Slavonic Josephus is an Old East Slavic translation of Flavius Josephus' History of the Jewish War.
The Jewish War or Judean War - a book written by Titus Flavius Josephus, a Roman-Jewish historian of the 1st century. The books of the History of the Jewish War against the Romans, which opens with a summary of Jewish history from the capture of JeRus'alem in 168 BC.

Mongol-Tatar invasion made a huge impact on Russian architecture, literature, arts.
Russian architecture, which achieved grandeur in the pre-Mongol period, suffered severely from the invasion. Masonry construction ceased entirely for half a century for lack of the material means and of master builders. Numerous cities were destroyed, including Ryazan, Kolomna, Moscow, Vladimir and Kiev.
The damage done to literature by the Mongol-Tatar invasion was not limited solely to destruction of written legacies: the very character of works of literature changed.
Many of the surviving monuments of the literature of ancient Rus' reached us via Novgorod, which was not destroyed by the Mongol-Tatars.

The literature of the this period was reflecting the events connected with the Mongol-Tatar invasion. The majestic emotion pervaded works about the Mongol invasion, which combined in these works with the epic grandeur of the events to create a kind of monumental emotionality.
The feudal disunity of Russia, which was particularly strong during Mongol overlordship, promoted the development of local and regional chronicle-writing. This helped to strengthen people’s awareness of the unity of Russia. The chronicles recount the history of the whole Russian land. In this way they reminded people of the unity of the Russian principalities and aroused memories of the glorious past and former might of Russia.
Spiritually the Russian people was neither destroyed nor enslaved. The struggle against the invaders produced an upsurge of patriotism. And the patriotic theme became the main theme in 13th-century literature. Military heroism and courage, devotion to duty, love of one’s native land, praise of the former greatness and might of the Russian princes and principalities, grief for the fallen, pain and compassion for all those abased by the enslavers - all this was reflected both in chronicle-writing, hagiography and ceremonial rhetoric. The theme of the need for a strong princely power is stressed urgently in 13th-century works. The ideal of the strong ruler is the prince, both warrior and wise statesman. In reminiscences of the past Vladimir Monomachos is portrayed as such a prince as Alexander Nevsky.
~1220th «The Battle on the River Kalka» from The Novgorod First Chronicle - military chronicle tale, one of chronicles of Batu’s invasion and the establishment of Mongol overlordship.
Novgorod is the only Russian state, or city, of importance, which escapes full subjugation by the Mongols of the 13th century. And even Novgorod becomes the vassal of the Tartars.
~1230th «The Tale of the Destruction of Ryazan» - tells of the outnumbered Russians fight fiercely against Batu army. The accursed Batu successfully storms Ryazan and kills all of its inhabitants. This tale has also stylistic features found in Russian byliny.
~1270th Serapion of Vladimir - a fine master of oratorical genre in the 13th century. Oratorical mastership is one of the main genres of Old Russian literature.
The main theme of Serapion’s sermons are the disasters that have befallen the Russian land as a result of the Mongol invasion, which was Divine punishment to Russia for people’s sins. According to Serapion, only repentance and moral self-perfectionment can save the Russian land. Serapion’s vivid descriptions of the disasters that have befallen the Russian land and his depth of feeling for his people’s sufferings, which he himself shared, give his sermons great patriotic meaning.
~1260-1280th «The Tale of the Life of Alexander Nevsky» - the work devoted to Alexander as the wise statesman and great military leader, hagiographic literature by genre. The work was written in the Monastery of the Nativity in Vladimir, where Prince Alexander was buried (he died on his way back from a journey to the Horde).
The Lives of princes written during this period reflected the events of the Mongol invasion and rule.
A characteristic feature of hagiography of this period was the desire to observe the canons which had grown up over the many centuries of hagiographic literature. Real life was injected into hagiographical works with a publicistic elements, literary variety and exciting subject matter.
1238-1246 «The Lay of the Ruin of the Russian Land» - poetic and lyric tale of the period.
In its poetic structure and ideology «The Lay of the Ruin of the Russian Land» is close to «The Lay of Igor’s Host». Both works contain a high degree of patriotism, a strong sense of national awareness, hyperbolisation of the strength and military valour of the warrior prince, a lyrical attitude towards nature, and a rhythmic structure.

During the destruction of Russian towns a large number of manuscript books had perished. Mongol rule led to a drop in literacy among the population. The revival of book culture was promoted by the appearance in Russia during the second half of the 14th century of paper, a cheaper writing material than parchment. Book production started to revive.
By the beginning of the 14th century the disrupted relations of the Russian lands with other countries began to be resumed. Pilgrimages to JeRus'alem and Constantinople were resumed, and in this connection the genre of the travel story describing journeys and places visited by pilgrims was also revived.
In the period when Russia was ruled by the Mongols the style of monumental historicism continued but did not produce any great or impressive individual works. There was not the radical change of literary styles. The features of the new style developed slowly within the old one.

In the14th century the emotional element became stronger in Russian literature, when the lyrical, emotional element was combined with minor themes, about the day-to-day events of foreign rule. Increasingly more space was devoted in literature to dreams of a better future, of distant happy lands, of an earthly paradise as yet undiscovered.
The Pre-Renaissance phenomena that emerged in the 14th century in Russian cultural life became particularly evident at the end of the century and in the first half of the following one. The upsurge of national awareness after the Battle of Kulikovo produced a flowering of culture, arousing intense interest in the country’s past and the urge to revive national traditions and to strengthen Russia’s cultural contacts with other states. Russia’s traditional contacts with Byzantium and the Southern Slav countries were revived.
In the late 14th and early 15th century the great mediaeval painter Theophanes the Greek worked in Russia, whose painting emDOBied the ideals of the Pre-Renaissance.
The great Russian painter Andrei Rublev was working at the end of the 14th and in the first quarter of the 15th century. His activity is connected with Moscow and the towns and monasteries around Moscow.
During the period of the unification of the lands around the Moscow principality the literature reflected uprising of Russia in spiritual and state unity.
1314-92 St Sergius of Radonezh - a spiritual leader and monastic reformer of medieval Russia. Together with Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, he is one of the Russian Orthodox Church's most highly venerated saints. He started the history of the great Trinity-St. Sergius Lavra.
DOB 1336-1406 Cyprian Bulgarian - Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus' with the Metropolitan's residence in Moscow.
Cyprian is remembered as a wise and experienced church administrator who fought for the unity of the Russian church. In fact, he is mainly responsible for uniting the Church in Russia and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
Cyprian was an erudite person and oversaw the copying and creation of a number of important works, including the «Troitskaia Chronicle» (or Troitskaya letopis') and, probably, «the Metropolitan Justice». He also rewrote the «Life of Metropolitan Peter», originally written around 1327. He also corrected biblical books and translated a number of ecclesiastic works from Greek into Old Church Slavic.
DOB 14th century-1420 Epiphanius «the Most Wise» - a monk in a Rostov monastery. Because of his erudition and literary skill he became known as .
1396-98«The Life of St Stephen of Perm» - Epiphanius hagiographer strives to use the ordinary devices of language so as to make the reader see the saint as a person of a completely different spiritual type from other people. Therefore linguistic artifice is a device with the help of which the author is able to extol the hero of his narrative in worthy fashion.
1417-18«The Life of St Sergius of Radonezh» - Epiphanius master of the narrative with a distinctive lyrical quality.
starting 1390 «The Book of Degrees» (Stepénnaya kniga) , which grouped Russian monarchs in the order of their generations, was started by Cyprian in 1390 (but completed only in 1563).
late 14th century «Zadonshchina» - a Russian literary monument of the late 14th century, which tells of the Battle of Kulikovo in 1380.
«Zadonshchina» presents a detailed description of the Battle of Kulikovo against the Tatars led by Mamai. The leader of the Muscovy hosts was prince Dmitry Ivanovich (entered in history as Dmitry Donskoy). The story propagates the importance of the unification of Russian principalities in order to defeat the common enemy – the Golden Horde. This epic also reflects the rise of the Moscow principality and stresses that the Muscovy princes were successors to the Kievan princes.

In Russian history 15th century was a period of «discovery of man», of his inner life, his virtues, his historical significance , etc. In Western Europe this discovery took place with the development of commodity-money relations.
In Russia the conditions for the liberation of the individual were created, on the one hand, by economic growth and the development of trade and handicrafts which led to the rise of the «town-communes» of Novgorod and Pskov, and on the other hand, by the fact that at the time of Mongol overlordship inner qualities became valued increasingly: a person’s fortitude, devotion to his homeland and his prince.
This explains why literature, and particularly hagiography, describes the inner life of an individual and pays increasing attention to the emotional sphere. This leads to expressive style and dynamic description.

This was roughly the period of the Renaissance and a little later the Reformation in Western Europe . The Renaissance was, first and foremost, the victory of the secular trend in culture over the religious.
In Russia this period should not be identified with the Renaissance, for religion dominated the spiritual culture of Old Russia right up to the 17th century. But the end of the 15th certain in Russian literature distinctly resembled those of the Renaissance and Reformation in Western Europe.
beginning of 15th century «The Tale of the Battle Against Mamai» - the most lengthy work of the Kulikovo cycle. It contains the most detailed account of the events of the Battle of Kulikovo.
The Tale was frequently copied and revised right up to the beginning of the 18th century and has survived in 8 redactions and a large number of versions.
«The Tale of the Battle Against Mamai» gave a detailed description of the Battle of Kulikovo. The Tale also has the elements of an exciting story. Not only the actual event, but also the fate of the individual characters and the development of the plot produced an emotional response to the account.
1433-1508 St Nil Sorsky - a leader of a tendency in the medieval Russian Orthodox Church known as the «Non-possessors» which opposed ecclesiastic landownership.
In his teachings, he developed mystical and ascetical ideas, asking the believers to concentrate on their inner world and personal emotional experiences of faith as means for achieving unity with God. Nil Sorsky demanded that monks participate in productive labor and spoke in support of monastic reforms on a basis of a secluded and modest lifestyle.
1460s-1470s «The Voyage Beyond Three Seas» by the Tver merchant Afanasy Nikitin - a description of Afanasy Nikitin’s journey to India. It resembles the accounts of pilgrimages to the Holy Land which had existed since the 12th century or the description of journeys to church councils. Nikitin’s voyage was not a pilgrimage to Christian lands, however, but a trading mission to distant India.
The autobiographical and lyrical elements in the «Voyage Beyond Three Seas», which conveys the emotional suffering and mood of the author , were new features in Old Russian literature and characteristic of the 15th century.
late 15th century Euphrosyne, a monk at the White Lake Monastery of St Cyril - man who lovingly collected and copied this secular literature . He transcribed the oldest extant manuscripts of «The Trans-Doniad», «The Tale of the Indian Empire», «Solomon and Kitovras», the «Alexandreid», «The Tale of Dracula». Euphrosyne does not appear to have been a heretic or opponent of the church, but the range of his interests extended far beyond the limits set by official church ideology.
The15th century saw a sharp increase in the number of secular works in Old Russian literature. There appeared translations (mostly Russian adaptations of South Slavonic texts) of mediaeval tales of chivalry and adventure.
late 15th - early 16th centuries Fyodor Kuritsyn - one of the chief heretics (Novgorodian-Muscovite heresy of the Strigolniks), who dealt with foreign policy matters under Ivan III. As other heretics, he showed great interest in secular culture; the books that circulated among heretics included Greek and Roman works.
The heretics were attacked by the leading churchmen , such as Abbot Joseph and Nilus of Sora. They defended monasticism and monasteries (the most important element of heresy was the rejection of monasticism and monasteries).
«The Enlightener» - the literary anti-heretical work of Nilus of Sora and Abbot Joseph.

The 16th century was the period of the final formation and establishment of the Russian centralized state with the strict centralization of culture and literature. During this period Russian architecture and painting continued to develop and book printing began.
The heretical movement that had been put down at the beginning of the 16th century reemerged in the middle of the century after the large-scale popular revolts of the 1540s. And again heresy was cruelly repressed. One heretic, a nobleman Matfei Bashkin, acclaimed that no one had the right to own «Christ’s servants» and freed all his serfs. Another heretic, a serf called Theodosius Kosoy, declared that all people were equal irrespective of nationality and creed.
beginning 16th century Ivan Peresvetov (professional soldier) - the secular writer, publicist, who breaks with the traditions of earlier writing styles.

Arriving in Russia in the late 1530s from Poland when Ivan IV was still a child and the boyars were ruling for him, Peresvetov became a firm opponent of the arbitrary rule of the boyars. In content it is a publicistic work in which Peresvetov suggests that Ivan IV should introduce some major political reforms.
The influence of folklore and oral speech can be seen clearly in Peresvetov’s works. His aphorisms are constructed like proverbs: «A kingdom without terror is like a king’s horse without a bridle» (this idea was taken up by Tsar Ivan IV - Ivan the Terrible.); «God loves not faith, but truth».
~1524 The manuscript of Philotheus, a monk in the Pskov Crypt Monastery - in this manuscript Philotheus expressed the view, quite common in Russian publicistics, that the whole Latin (Catholic) world was sinful and that the «first Rome» and the «second Rome» (Constantinople) had lapsed into heresy and ceased to be the centres of the Christian world. They would be replaced by Russia, the «third Rome».
1530s-1540s «The Great Menology» - compilation consisted of 12 volumes, one for each calendar month. The book was compiled under the supervision of Macarius, Archbishop of Novgorod and later Metropolitan of All Russia.
Each volume contained the Lives of all the saints whose feast days came in that particular month. Macarius’ intention was that The Great Menology should cover all books intended for reading and to cover all the works (apart from chronicles and chronographs) that were permitted reading in Old Russia. Each of its huge volumes (in folio) contains 1,000 printer’s quires.
before the middle of 16th century «The Household Management» (rules for domestic life) - a work consisting of three parts: on worship of the Church and the Tsar, on «wordly management” (relations within the family) and on «household management» (economy).
The main theme: austerity and strictness in private life, compulsory handiwork for members of the family, thriftiness even to the point of stinginess, guarding against dangerous relations with the outside world and the strictest keeping of all family secrets.
1551 «The Council of the Hundred Chapters» - a special book consisting of the tsar’s Ivan the Terrible questions and the council’s answers to these questions.
«The Council of the Hundred Chapters» reaffirmed the ecclesiastical cult established in Russia as inviolable and final. At the same time the council’s decisions were aimed against all reformatory heretical doctrines.
1560-63 «The Book of Degrees» of the Tsar’s Genealogy - an official, publicistic work. Its theme is of the ruling dynasty, its style—solemn and monumental.
All the Russian princes (ending with Ivan IV himself) appeared in «The Book of Degrees» as men full of «virtues pleasing to the Lord». It set out the whole history of Russia in the form of lives of «sceptre-holders” princes as a «rung» on the «ladder» to heaven, like the ladders described in Bible stories or hagiographical literature.
1564-66 «The History of Kazan» - the combination of literary and publicistic invention, when the emotional style that developed in Russian literature of the Pre-Renaissance is formalized.
This book dealt mainly with the capture of Kazan in 1552; but at the same time The History of Kazan was not a separate historical tale like «The Tale of the Battle Against Mamai». The author sought to give the whole history of the Kazan state.
1564-79 The Correspondence of Ivan the Terrible with Kurbsky - literary polemic, a dispute as to which style befits an epistle.
Andrew Kurbsky (his family related to the princes of Yaroslavl) in 1550s was a member of the Select Council. In 1564 he fled from Russia to Poland, fearing the tsar’s disfavor.
The Correspondence started by Kurbsky to the tsar accusing him of unjustly persecuting the loyal generals who had conquered «the proudest of realms» for Russia, and the tsar replied with an epistle almost as long as a book; and that was the beginning of this famous correspondence.
From political standpoint Kurbsky frequently got the better of the tsar, ridiculing the most absurd of the accusations made against his now executed advisers. Ivan IVwas better with his literary style: the scenes of the tsar’s orphaned childhood are particularly vivid; they have frequently been used by historians and artists. The tsar declared that he lacked food and clothing and, most important, the care and attention of elders.

On the Time of Troubles the role of the spoken and written word increased greatly. The victory of Pseudo-Dmitry I was secured not so much by arms, as by «anonymous sheets», skilful propaganda that won popular opinion over to his side. All rulers and pretenders to the throne, Vasily Shuisky, Pseudo-Dmitry II and the Boyars’ Duma, circulated appeals. The gramotas of the Time of Troubles not only informed - they also sought to persuade, to act not only on the reader’s mind, but also on his heart; they are characterized by a heightened emotionality.
The Time of Troubles was also a time of no censorship. The writer’s freedom did not depend on non-literary factors. The writer began to reflect freely on the behavior of the people he portrayed, rejecting the traditional mediaeval schemes.

Before the cycle of writers consisted mainly of learned monks who engaged, now laymen of all different ranks and estates took up the pen, princes, nobility from the capital and the provinces, and government officials. Whereas before there had been a division between the oral and written tradition, now folklore found its way into manuscript books. The democratic literature of the lower strata of society was beginning to appear. They spoke out in the independent and free language of parody and satire. The comic, absurd, distorted world became the tragic world of everyday life. The Polish satirical literature also was flowering to Russia in the 1st half of the 17th century.
Up to the 17th century Russian literature had been oriented primarily on the literature of South-Eastern Europe (the Greeks and the Balkan Slavs). Now contacts with the Ukraine, ByeloRussia and Poland became paramount. Many Ukrainian and ByeloRussian intellectuals , who didn't want to accept Catholicism, emigrated to Moscow.
17th century in Russia is the Age of revolts . The upper classes of Russian society chose the path of Europeanization, the path of reorganizing the cultural system inherited from the Middle Ages.
The percentage of authorial works, primarily fiction, rose sharply in 17th-century literature. The links with Europe produced the translated tales of chivalry and novella . It did not exhort, but entertained.
In the 1st half of the 17th century the «geography» of Russian literature expanded : Siberia and the Don joined in the literary movement. The beginning of Siberian literature is connected with the founding of the Tobolsk archbishopric in 1621.
«The Tale of the Good Life» - the oral genre of the Utopia. In 17th century there were many rumors of distant free lands, with «unploughed land and no one levies taxes»; thousands of poor people, whole villages, would leave hearth and home and flee they knew not where.
1637 «The Historical Tale of the Capture of Azov» - a set of a «historical» tales of the siege of Azov by Cossacks.
2nd half of the 17th century «The Poetic Tale of the Siege of Azov» - on the basis of the «historical» tale of the siege of Azov, a «folk tale» about Azov was created, which belongs to a new genre in Russian literature - the genre of historical fiction.
1650s The greatest blow to cultural unity was dealt by the church reforms of Patriarch Nikon , who introduced many changes into liturgical practice and ritual. These reforms led to a Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church .
All educated and thinking people realized that the Church needed reform. The idea of transforming church life inspired the movement of the God-lovers (a revolt of the lower ranks of the clergy against the bishops and the parish priests) and Old believers (those who did not accept Nikon’s reforms).
At the time of Nikon reforms and a Schism in the Russian Orthodox Church 2 hostile parties emerged, the Graecophile («Old Muscovite») and Westerniser («Latiniser») parties.
It was the «Latinisers» who created the professional community of writers in Moscow. It produced a special type of writer fashioned on the Ukrainian-Polish model.
second half of 17th century The Writings of Archpriest Avvakum - Archpriest Avvakum (1621-1682) was famous leader of the Old Believers. He became a writer somewhat late in life.
Avvakum never changed his convictions. In spirit and temperament he was a fighter, a polemicist, a denouncer, and he exhibited these qualities throughout his life and labours.
In his exile in Siberia the preacher became a brilliant writer . The ideas that he had conceived way back in his youth, he now defended in his writings.
The demand for exiles works was tremendous. The words of Avvakum and his followers possessed great moral authority for Old Believers. They were surrounded by the aura of martyrdom for the faith. Their works were copied and disseminated secretly.
Avvakum’s ideology is full of democratic spirit. Having lost faith not only in Tsar Alexis, but also in his heir and realizing that the Moscow rulers had renounced the «old belief» once and for all, Avvakum turned to openly anti-governmental propaganda . This is why he was burnt at the stake—not only for the Schism but also «for greatly abusing the tsar’s house».
Avvakum was a «true son of his people» ,spiritual son, careless and diligent, sinful and righteous, weak and strong at one and the same time. His readers were peasants or artisans with whom Avvakum had dealings in his younger years.
last third of the 17th century From Europe, primarily Poland, through the Ukraine-ByeloRussian intermediacy, Russia borrowed Baroque that was destined to be the style of Moscow courtly culture.
The art of Baroque revived mysticism, the danse macabre, the themes of the Last Judgment and infernal torment. At the same time Baroque did not break with the heritage of the Renaissance. In Russia Baroque performed the function of the Renaissance. Russia is indebted to the style of Baroque for the emergence of regular syllabic poetry and the theatre.
1672-73 «The Comedy of Artaxerxes» - the play in first Russian professional theatre. This court theatre was the creation of Tsar Alexis.
The actors included not only foreigners from the German settlement, but also Russian youths, mainly young scribes from the Ambassadorial Chancery. The life on the stage was changeable life, in which transitions from grief to joy, merriment to tears, hope to despair and vice versa were quick and sudden.
1629-80 Simeon of Polotsk - the founder of an unbroken tradition of syllabic poetry in Moscow.
He studied the «seven free arts» in the Kiev-Mogila Academy.
In Moscow Simeon of Polotsk continued the profession of teacher begun in his native land. He educated the tsar’s children and opened a Latin school.
Simeon of Polotsk’s heritage is very big. It is estimated that he left at least fifty thousand lines of poetry.

After taking the throne at the end of the 17th century, Peter the Great's influence on the Russian culture would extend far into the 18th century. Peter promoted a new type of culture, with the idea of usefulness . Whereas for the «Latinisers» who created Moscow Baroque poetry was the queen of the arts, now in the Baroque of St Petersburg it was the servant of the natural sciences and practical disciplines . Poetry turned into an embellishment of «useful» books, such as Arithmetic in which mathematical rules were attired in rhythmical speech.
Under Peter Russia produced many new things for the first time in its history— a fleet, a theatre open to the general public, an Academy of Sciences, parks and park sculpture ; it also produced new clothes, new manners, a new style of social behavior.
At the same time literature ceased to be professional and dilettantes multiplied rapidly (dilettantism is a symptom of decline).

There was a deterioration in style, language became macaronic and borrowing and barbarisms abounded. The Empress Elizabeth herself was active in the field of pursuit of poetry.
The positive elements of this period: the secularization of culture , its freeing from the control of the Church. Literature not only served practical aims; it also entertained, and under Peter the bans were lifted on humor, merrymaking and the theme of love.
DOB 1708-1744 Satirist Antiokh Kantemir - distinguished Russian statesman, who was his country’s first secular poet and one of its leading writers of the classical school.
He also wrote a philosophical work, «Letters on Nature and Man», and a tract on the old syllabic system of Russian verse composition (1744).
DOB 1703-1769 Vasily Trediakovsky - a poet, playwright, essayist, translator, Russian literary theoretician whose writings contributed to the classical foundations of Russian literature. Trediakovsky's approach to writing is often described as highly erudite.
The son of a poor priest, Trediakovsky became the first Russian not of the nobility to receive a humanistic education abroad, at the Sorbonne in Paris.
DOB 1717-1777 Alexander Sumarokov - Russian Neoclassical poet and dramatist, director of the first permanent theatre in St. Petersburg (1756–61) and author of several comedies and nine tragedies, including an adaptation of Hamlet.
DOB 1711-1765 Mikhail Lomonosov - first Russian scientist-naturalist of universal importance . He was a poet who laid the foundation of modern Russian literary language, an artist, an historian and an advocate of development of domestic education , science and economy. On his initiative the Moscow University was founded in 1755.
Lomonosov was the son of a poor fisherman. His ambition was to educate himself to join the learned men on whom the tsar Peter I the Great was calling to transform Russia into a modern nation.
DOB 1749-1802 Alexander Radishchev - writer who founded the revolutionary tradition in Russian literature and thought. Radishchev, a nobleman, was educated in Moscow, at the St. Petersburg Corps of Pages, and at Leipzig, where he studied law.
«A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow» (1790) - in which he collected, within the framework of an imaginary journey, all the examples of social injustice, wretchedness, and brutality he had seen. Though the book was an indictment of serfdom, autocracy, and censorship , Radishchev intended it for the enlightenment of Catherine the Great, who he assumed was unaware of such conditions. Its unfortunate timing (the year after the French Revolution) led to his immediate arrest and sentence to death . The sentence was commuted to 10 years’ exile in Siberia, where he remained until 1797.
DOB 1766–1826 Nikolay Karamzin - Russian historian, poet, and journalist who was the leading exponent of the sentimentalist school in Russian literature. He was educated at home, at Simbirsk, and studied at the University of Moscow. Karamzin’s friendship with the emperor Alexander I resulted in his appointment as court historian.
«Poor Liza» (1792) - sentimental style tale, about a village girl who commits suicide after a tragic love affair, soon became the most celebrated work of the Russian sentimental school.
«History of the Russian State» (1816–29) - 12-volumes of his work based on original research, a great number of documents, including foreign accounts of historical incidents. It remains a landmark in the development of Russian literary style. Karamzin in his work supported Russian autocracy.
DOB 1743-1816 Gavrila Derzhavin - Russia’s greatest and most original 18th-century poet, whose finest achievements lie in his lyrics and odes. Born of impoverished nobility, Derzhavin joined the army as a common soldier, became an officer, later became a provincial governor at Olonets and Tambov, senator, and minister of justice.
DOB 1745-1792 Denis Fonvizin - playwright who satirized the cultural pretensions and privileged coarseness of the nobility ; he is considered his nation’s foremost 18th-century dramatist. Fonvizin was educated at the University of Moscow and worked as a government translator until 1769.
«The Minor» («Nedorosl») (1783) - this masterpiece considered the first truly Russian drama. It deals with a gentry family so ignorant and brutish that they survive only through the industry of their ill-treated serfs. The plot centres on the tyrannical mother’s attempts to educate her spoiled and loutish son for the civil service and to marry him to an heiress. The characters are portrayed with a realism unknown at the time , and the play is still performed. His works were banned , and his last years were spent in travel.
DOB 1769-1844 Ivan Krylov - fabulist, which innocent-sounding fables that satirized contemporary social types in the guise of beasts. Although some of his themes were borrowed from Aesop and La Fontaine, they altered in Krylov’s hands. His foxes and crows, wolves and sheep, whether wise or foolish, were always recognizable Russian types. His salty, down-to-earth parables emphasized common sense, hard work, and love of justice and made him one of the first Russian writers to reach a broad audience.

The 19th century is traditionally referred to as the «Golden Age» of Russian literature. The century began with the rise of Romanticism, which permitted a flowering of especially poetic talent. It ended with the dominance of Russian Realist novelists.
Russian literature thrived independently of politics. It set its roots during the stifling reign of Nicholas I, continued to grow during the Era of Great Reforms begun under the Tsar-Liberator Alexander II, blossomed during the reactionarily conservative final years of his rule, and continued to bloom in fits under Alexander III. The literature engaged and influenced the social debates of the era.
1820-80th A Golden age of Russian literature - does not refer to any particular school or movement (e.g., Classicism, Romanticism, Realism); rather, it encompasses several of them.

1820-30th A Golden age of Russian poetry - 1st period: lasted from G.Derzhavin until A.Pushkin's «turn to prose» around 1831 (or as late as M.Lermontov's death in 1841).
Romanticism permitted a flowering of especially poetic talent of A.Pushkin. Pushkin is credited with both crystallizing the literary Russian language and introducing a new level of artistry to Russian literature. An entire new generation of poets including M.Lermontov (generally considered Russia's 2nd-greatest poet), Y.Baratynsky, K.Batyushkov, N.Nekrasov, F.Tyutchev and A.Fet followed in Pushkin's steps.
1840s-1850s The superfluous man - Russian literary concept derived from the Byronic hero. Superfluous man is a byproduct of Nicholas I reign, when the best educated men would not enter the discredited government service and, lacking other options for self-realization, doomed themselves to live out their life in passivity: Onegin (A.Pushkin, Pechorin (M.Lermontov), Rudin (I.Turgenev), Oblomov (I.Goncharov).
1830-80th A Golden Age of Russian prose - 2nd period, which petered out sometime during the last decades of the 19th century.
One constant characteristic of all the works of this period is their distinctive Russian nature. All of the authors were fluent in the conventions and heritage of Western European literature, but they frequently and consciously rejected its traditions.
The first great Russian novel was «Dead Souls» by N.Gogol. The realistic school of fiction can be said to have begun with I.Turgenev. It was the twin giants L.Tolstoy and F.Dostoyevsky whose work exploded out of Russia in the 1870s to overwhelm Europeans with their imaginative and emotional power. M.Saltykov-Shchedrin wrote prose satire,while N.Leskov is best remembered for his shorter fiction.
Most of the literature during 19th century (and late 18th century) criticized or satirized in some way the conditions of serfs and the socio-economic structure of serfdom: N. Gogol «Dead Souls», A.Radishchev «A Journey from St. Petersburg to Moscow», N.Karamzin «Poor Liza», L.Tolstoy «Anna Karenina». Many works of this time were censored.
Accused of political subversion as a young man, F.Dostoyevsky was sentenced to 4 years of hard labor at a Siberian prison camp. I.Turgenev was put in prison for a month for praising N.Gogol, and then banished to his estate. Although none of Tolstoy's works (before 1884) treated politics and social conflict in the direct manner of F.Dostoyevsky or I.Turgenev, they were nonetheless socially engaged, treating obliquely historical or philosophical questions present in contemporary debates.
Golden Age excludes A.Chekhov, whose short stories and plays in many ways defined the genres for the 20th century: by the 1890s he was one of the most popular writers in Russia; M.Gorky, whose half-century career writing wildly popular, provocative and much-imitated stories and plays depicting the social dregs of Russia.
Other important 19th-century developments included non-fiction writers such as the critic V.Belinsky and the political reformer A.Herzen; playwrights such as A.Griboyedov, A.Ostrovsky and the satirist K.Prutkov (a collective pen name).
1880s-1920s Silver age of Russian literature starts with the publication of S.Diagilev's and A.Benois's «The World of Art» with its bold, syncretic program of music, theater, painting, and sculpture, idealistic metaphysics, and religion. The appellation suggests that while the era did not quite attain the dramatic breadth and scope of the Golden Age, it was not far behind.
Well-known poets of the period include: A.Blok, S.Yesenin, V.Bryusov, K.Balmont, M.Kuzmin, I.Severyanin, S.Chorny, N.Gumilyov, M.Voloshin, I.Annensky, Z.Gippius.

1880s-1920s The Silver Age is a term traditionally applied by Russian philologists to the first two decades of the twentieth century.
The Silver Age was dominated by the artistic movements of Russian Symbolism, Acmeism, and Russian Futurism. Nonetheless, there flourished innumerable other poetic schools, such as Mystical Anarchism. There were also such poets as I.Bunin and M. Tsvetayeva who refused to align themselves with any of these movements. The poets most often associated with the Silver Age: S.Esenin, A.Blok, A.Akhmatova, M.Tsvetaeva, O.Mandelstam, B.Pasternak. The Silver Age ended after the Russian Civil War.
Soviet era.

1920s The Bolshevik seizure of power in 1917 radically changed Russian literature. Russian poets and writers were instrumental in producing a new type of literature in which politics played a major part. After a brief period of relative openness in the 1920s, literature became a tool of state propaganda.
late 1920-30s The Stalin era - the decade beginning with Stalin’s ascendancy in the late 1920s was one of unprecedented repression. The «war in the countryside” to enforce the collectivization of agriculture cost more than 10 million lives, about half of them by starvation. Purges took the lives of millions more.
Socialist realism - the predominant trend in Russia(«realism of people who are rebuilding the world», M.Gorky) displaying the selflessness and compassion for the working poor, as well as discipline and dedication.
Some 1930s writers, such as M.Bulgakov, and Nobel Prize-winning B.Pasternak continued the classical tradition of Russian literature. Their major works were not published, and the Soviet authorities forced Pasternak to renounce his 1958 Nobel prize.
1932 The Union of Soviet Writers - an institution to replace all independent literary groupings. The union became the state’s instrument of control over literature, and expulsion from it meant literary death. In 1934 Socialist Realism was proclaimed the only acceptable form of writing. The literature was to be governed by a series of official directives regarding details of style and content
1932-34 «How the Steel Was Tempered» by Nikolay Ostrovsky's novel has been among the most successful works of socialist realism, with tens of millions of copies printed in many languages around the world (10 million copies just in China).
1940s The need to rally support in World War II brought a loosening of Communist Party control. After War period from 1946 until the death of Stalin in 1953 was one of severe repression known as the zhdanovshchina. During this campaign, attacks on «rootless cosmopolitans” involved anti-Semitism and the rejection of all foreign influences on Russian literature. The Soviet practice of samokritika (public denunciation of one’s own work) was frequent.
1954-64 The Khrushchev th A w - period when repression and censorship were eased. KhRus'hchev's th A w allowed some freedom of information in the media, arts, and culture; international festivals, foreign movies, uncensored books, and new forms of entertainment on the emerging national television, ranging from massive parades and celebrations to popular music and variety shows, satire and comedies, and all-star shows, like «Goluboy Ogonek». Poetry became a mass-cultural phenomenon: B.Akhmadulina, R.Rozhdestvensky, A.Voznesensky, Y.Yevtushenko, read their poems in stadiums and attracted huge crowds.
Some writers dared to oppose Soviet ideology: V.Shalamov, Nobel Prize-winning novelist A.Solzhenitsyn, V.Grossman. Such writers, dubbed «dissidents», could not publish their major works until the 1960s.
1970s-80s End of KhRus'hchev th A w (Brezhnev rule) - period, when «dissidents» were banned and prosecuted (for parasitism). Many had to emigrate to the West.
Popular genres of Soviet era.
starting 1920s Children's literature in Soviet Union - a major genre because of its educational role. For talented writers children’s literature and translation were safer areas: K.Chukovsky, S.Marshak, A.Barto, V.Mayakovsky, S.Mikhalkov, A.N.Tolstoy, A.Volkov, N.Nosov.
Soviet Science fiction - inspired by scientistic revolution, industrialization, and the country's space pioneering, was flourishing, albeit in the limits allowed by censors: A.Belyayev, M. Bulgakov, G.Adamov, A.N.Tolstoy, Y.Zamyatin, A. and B. Strugatsky.
Mystery was another popular genre. Detectives by brothers A. and G. Vayner and spy novels by Y.Semyonov were best-selling.
1960s-80s Village prose - writers, who treated the clash of rural traditions with modern life in a realistic idiom: V.Rasputin, V.Shukshin.
Historical fiction - in the early Soviet era included a large share of memoirs, World War II novels were based on the authors' own war experience.
Magic realism - introduced magic and mystical creatures into contemporary Soviet reality to satirize it: M.Bulgakov («Master and Margarita»), Strugatskies, A.Grin.
Émigré literature.
1st wave of émigré literature - the early years following the Revolution, writers who left or were expelled from the Soviet Union included K.Balmont, I.Bunin (Nobel Prize for literature), V.Nabokov, Z.Gippius, V.Ivanov, A.Kuprin, D.Merezhkovsky. Émigrés also included the poets V.Khodasevich, G.Ivanov, M.Tsvetayeva -regarded as one of the great poets of the 20th century.
2nd wave of émigré literature - during World War II the control Communist Party was loosened, what created opportunity for «second wave» of emigration.
3rd wave of émigré literature- the years that followed KhRus'hchev rule (Brezhnev rule), when well-known writers were arrested or expelled from the Soviet Union: I.Brodsky (Nobel Prize for literature), A.Sinyavsky, A.Solzhenitsyn, V.Aksyonov, G.Vladimov, V.Voynovich, A.Zinovyev.
The end of the 20th century The end of the 20th century proved a difficult period for Russian literature, with relatively few distinct voices. Although the censorship was lifted and writers could now freely express their thoughts, the political and economic chaos of the 1990s affected the book market and literature heavily. The book printing industry descended into crisis. During this period, readers and writers sought to understand the past, both literary and historical, and to comprehend the chaotic, threatening, and very different present.
Citizenship was restored to émigré writers. «Doctor Zhivago» and «We» were published in Russia, as were the works of V.Nabokov, A.Solzhenitsyn, V.Voynovich, and many others.
A Russian form of postmodernism arose, along with various forms of radical experimentalism: V.Pelevin, etc. Detective stories and thrillers have proven a very successful genre of new Russian literature: B.Akunin, etc. Science fiction and fantasy - these genres boomed in the late 1990s, with authors like S.Lukyanenko, etc.

East Slavs belonged to the most numerous ethnic and linguistic body of people in Europe, Slavs. The Slavs perceived the world as enlivened by a variety of spirits ( Slavic paganism), which they represented as persons and worshipped.
There was an evident continuity between the beliefs of the East Slavs, West Slavs and South Slavs. But only two of Russian pagan divinities, Perun (the god of thunder, law and war) and Svarog, are at all likely to have been common to all the Slavs. The Kievan state enumerates 7 pagan divinities: Perun, Volos, Khors, Dazhbog (life-bringing power of the sun), Stribog, Simargl, and Mokosh (the only female deity).
The cosmology of ancient Slavic religion is visualized as a three-tiered vertical structure, or «world tree». At the top there is the heavenly plane, symbolized by birds, the sun and the moon; the middle plane commonly is that of earthly ritual community (khorovod); at the bottom of the structure there is the netherworld.

Because of the geographical location of Rus’ close to the Black Sea and the Near East, Christianity was known on the present territory of Ukraine as early as the 1st century AD. The proximity of the Slav-settled lands to the Greek colonies on the Black Sea must have been an important factor in the spread of Christianity among the Slavic tribes.
After capturing Kiev in 860, the princes Askold and Dyr are said to have embraced Christianity, and Patriarch Photius wrote in one of his letters that in about 864 he had sent a bishop to Rus’. During the reign of Prince Oleg the pagan reaction suppressed Christianity, but it did not disappear completely.

Christianity entered from the West as well, specifically from Moravia, where Saint Cyril and Saint Methodius and their disciples worked as missionaries. Both ‘Slavic apostles’ visited the Crimea on their way to the Khazars.

There is evidence that during Prince Igor's rule, when signing of the treaty of 944 with the Greeks, some of Igor's deputies took an oath on the Bible while others swore by the pagan deity Perun. After Prince Igor's death in 945 his wife, Princess Olga, was baptized before her voyage to Constantinople in 957.
987 And her grandson, Great Prince Vladimir, was baptized in about 987.
At first Vladimir was the leader of the pagan movement in Kiev in order to bind together the Slavic people in the growing centralized state and making Kiev the spiritual centre of East Slavdom.
But, having concluded that Eastern Orthodox Church, then the state religion of the Byzantine Empire, would strengthen the state and increase its prestige among his Christian neighbors, he adopted Christianity and christened all his people.

Before taking decision, Vladimir was listening the ambassadors from neighboring nations. Vladimir rejected Islam, presented by Volga Bulgars, for the prohibition laws as a strain on the Russian soul. The Western Catholic Christianity was rejected already by Vladimir’s ancestors. Judaism was rejected as «the religion which did not even help the Jews to keep their own land». Vladimir finally chose Eastern Byzantine Christianity. For many decades, Russia and Byzantine had close political and commercial relations.
Vladimir began a military campaign in Byzantine in 988. The Prince captured Korsun (Chersonese in the modern Crimea), and demanded to marry Anna, a sister of the Byzantine Emperors Basil II and Constantine VIII, or else he would attack Constantinople. The Emperors agreed, but demanded the baptism of the Prince in return. Vladimir agreed to the conditions, and Vladimir and Anna then married according to Christian tradition.
He destroyed the wooden statues of Slavic pagan gods , and the statue of Perun was thrown into the Dnieper. 988The population of Kievan Rus’ along the main water routes was baptized gradually. The pagan priests (Volkhv), who had little influence in southern Rus’ but in the north—in Novgorod the Great, Suzdal, and Belozersk—incited the people to hostile acts against the Christian priests. For a long time the pagan religion, mostly its rites, was practiced alongside the Christian religion.
Russia became a metropolis of the Patriarchate of Constantinople. The 1st-mentioned metropolitan of Rus’ was the Greek Theopemptos. To normalize religious life in his country, Vladimir issued a law assigning a 10th of the state's property ( Tithe) to the church and recognizing various rights of the clergy.
During his Christian reign, Vladimir lived the teachings of the Bible through acts of charity. He would hand out food and drink to the less fortunate, and made an effort to go out to the people who could not reach him. He founded numerous churches, including the Desyatinnaya Tserkov in 989, established schools, protected the poor and introduced ecclesiastical courts.
988, 991 Vladimir baptized Pecheneg princes Metiga and Kuchug, respectively.

1011 Saint Sophia's Cathedral, Kiev, was founded.
Shortly after Vladimir the Great’s death he and his grandmother, Princess Olga, came to be venerated as saints or «equals of the apostles» in Rus’.
The struggle for the Kiev throne among Vladimir’s sons interrupted the ecclesiastical and missionary development in Rus’, and the Greek metropolitan’s jurisdiction ended abruptly.
During the rule of Yaroslav the Wise, Vladimir's son, Christianity spread and grew stronger in Rus’ (he actively suppressed paganism), and the organizational and hierarchical structure of the Rus’ church was established.
Yaroslav issued a book of laws called «Pravda Iaroslava» (Yaroslav's Justice) with a statute defining the rights of the church and clergy. Apart from Constantinople's right to confirm the appointment of the metropolitan, the Rus’ church was autonomous.

1051-65 Yaroslav initiated the sobor of bishops that chose Ilarion as metropolitan of Kiev.
1069 Byzantium sent another Greek metropolitan, Georgios, to head the Rus’ church. But because he would not recognize the sanctity of the local martyrs, Georgios was forced to return to Byzantium. Later bishop Yefrem of Pereiaslav ( a native boyar who had become a monk of the Kiev Cave Monastery) governed the metropoly.
The number of eparchies was augmented at that time: Pereiaslav eparchy, Yuriv eparchy, and Bilhorod eparchy were added.
Yaroslav the Wise founded a primary school and library at the Saint Sophia Cathedral and sponsored the translation of Greek and other texts into Church Slavonic, the copying of many books, and the compilation of a chronicle. Golden Gate, Kiev, were built, named in imitation of the Golden Gate of Constantinople.
The 1st monasteries in Rus’ were formally established during Yaroslav's reign. Saint Anthony of the Caves, founder of the Kiev Cave Monastery, had experienced monastic life at Mount Athos.
1054 The Great Schism split eastern and western churches. The eastern churches developed into the Eastern, Greek, and Russian Orthodox Church - ROC, while the western churches formed into the Roman Catholic Church. The two branches remained on friendly terms until Crusaders of the 4th Crusade captured Constantinople in 1204.
Even after the split Yaroslav strengthened the international role of Kiev Rus’ through dynastic unions - his son Iziaslav Yaroslavych married Gertrude, the daughter of Mieszko II of Poland.
As a European power Kiev Rus’ reached its zenith under his rule.
The Slavs' resistance to Christianity gave rise to a «whimsical syncretism» which in Old Church Slavonic vocabulary was defined as dvoeverie, «double faith».

1147-54 Izyaslav's, grandson of Vladimir «Monomakh», ordered a synod of bishops to install Cyril of Turov (Kliment Smolyatich, Metropolitan Clement of Smolensk) as the 2nd native metropolitan of Kiev. Under him monastic life underwent a considerable revival. He governed the Rus’ church until about 1154 and subsequently headed the Vladimir-Volynskyi eparchy. This attempt to appoint a Russian metropolitan without the blessing of the Patriarch of Constantinople encountered resistance from some of the Greek hierarchs in the ROC, however.
The 12th century was the time of the great Christian sermons in Rus'. Cyril of Turov was probably the most accomplished master of Orthodox theology and the Byzantine style of writing. Of all his works, Cyril's sermon with the triumphant description of spring as the symbol of the Resurrection is one of his best known works.

Though Rome and Constantinople had no ecclesiastical communion with each other from 1054 ( Great Schism), relations between state and church in Rus’ on the one hand and Rome on the other were maintained. Pope Gregory VII granted Prince Iziaslav Mstyslavych royal status. In the 12th century Rus’ princes and boyars contributed financially to the construction of the churches in Poland and Bavaria. Only after 1204, when the Crusaders devastated Constantinople and its sanctuaries, did relations with the West worsen. Greek hierarchs disseminated anti-Latin sentiments.
Prince Andrei Bogolyubsky, a grandson of Vladimir Monomakh, still in his youth he was called «Bogolyubsky» («God-loving») for his attention to prayer and his diligence for church services. From Vladimir Monomakh the grandson inherited great spiritual concentration, love for the Word of God.
1147, 1152, 1154 A constant co-worker in the city construction and church building activity of Yuri Dolgoruky, he built with his father: Moscow (1147), Iur'ev-Pol'sk (1152), Dmitrov (1154), and he adorned with churches the cities of Rostov, Suzdal', and Vladimir (white Rus').
1157-60 When his father died, Prince Andrei did not take up his father's throne at Kiev, but rather remained prince at Vladimir. He brought the icon of the Mother of God to Vladimir. During the years 1158-60 was built the Uspenie (Dormition) cathedral at Vladimir, and the Mother of God icon was placed there. 30 churches were built by Prince Andrei during the years of his rule.
1159 Prince Andrei built the church of the Nativity of the Mother of God. He situated here also the city of Bogolyubsky, which became his constant dwelling and the place of his martyr's end.
1162 Andrei Bogolyubsky sent an embassy to Constantinople, lobbying for a separate metropolitan see in Vladimir. Patriarch consented archimandrite Theodore (Feodor) as bishop of Vladimir, but not as metropolitan. At the same time, wanting to uphold the position of Prince Andrei as the most powerful amongst the rulers of the Russian Land, the Patriarch dignified bishop Theodore with the right to wear the «white klobuk» (hierarch's headgarb), which in ancient Rus' was a distinctive sign of churchly autonomy.
1167 The twin brother of Andrei, Metropolitan Rostislav died at Kiev. A new metropolitan was dispatched from Tsargrad, Constantine II. Patriarch refused again for establishing metropolitan see at Vladimir, and demanded to submit to the Kiev metropolitan.
Andrei urged bishop Theodore to journey in repentance to Kiev for the restoration of canonical relations with the metropolitan. It was not accepted, and in accord with the Byzantine morals of the time, metropolitan Constantine condemned him to a terrible execution: they cut out the tongue from Theodore, they cut off his right hand and then they gouged out his eyes. After this he was drowned by servants (by other accounts, he died in prison).
1169-70 At this time of church and political conflict, Andrei Bogolyubsky of Vladimir sacked the city of Kiev. In such a manner Andrei Bogolyubsky was able to attain the unity of the Russian Land under his rule.
It fundamentally changed the perception of Kiev and was evidence of the fragmentation of the Kievan Rus'. By the end of the 12th century, the Kievan state became even further fragmented and had been divided into roughly 12 different principalities.
The West Slavs came under the sphere of influence of the Roman Catholic Church starting in the 12th century.
The West Slavs of the Baltic withstood tenaciously against Christianity until it was violently imposed on them through the Northern Crusades.

1241-1362 With the initial Mongol onslaught, many churches and monasteries were destroyed; countless clergy were killed; those who survived often were taken prisoner and enslaved. The distress and devastating were just as political and economic in nature as it was social and spiritual. The Mongol forces claimed that they were sent by God, and the Russians believed that the Mongols were indeed sent by God as a punishment for their sins. Princes of Kiev were forced to accept Mongol/Tatar overlordship.
At the same time Mongol religious toleration benefited ROC: it was officially exempted from any form of taxation by Mongol or Russian authorities. And permitted that clergymen not be registered during censuses and that they were furthermore not liable for forced labor or military service.

For the 1st time, the church would become less dependent on princely powers than in any other period of Russian history. The Orthodox Church was able to acquire and consolidate land at a considerable rate, one that would put the church in an extremely powerful position in the centuries following the Mongol takeover.
To strengthen the internal structure of the Orthodox Church, metropolitans wanted to spread Christianity and convert those still practicing paganism in the countryside; they traveled extensively throughout the land to alleviate administrative deficiencies and to oversee the activities of the bishops and priests.
The Orthodox Church would become more powerful during the «darker» years of the Mongol subjugation. The Russian people would eventually turn inward, looking to the Orthodox Church for guidance and support. The shock of being conquered by this steppe people would plant the seeds of Russian monasticism, which would in turn play a major role in the conversion of such people as the Finno-Ugrian tribes and the Komi, as well as the colonization of the northern regions of Russia.
1245 The Metropolitan of Kiev, Petro Akerovych, participated in the First Council of Lyon, where he informed Catholic Europe of the Mongol/Tatar threat.
Catholic powers (like Teutonic Knights) launched a series of Crusades against Pskov (not against Mongols), Novgorod, and other towns in northwestern Rus'. Novgorodians fought hard to keep westerners out of the Novgorodian Lands.
1248 The Rome popes attempted also more peaceful means of conversion Rus' to Catholicism: Pope Innocent IV sent 2 cardinals to Prince Aleksandr Nevsky, who famously rejected their appeal to become Catholic.
1255 Prince Daniil of Galich accepted Catholicism.
1261 The Nicaean (Byzantium's most highly populated Greek region) emperor M. Palaeologus recaptured Constantinople from the Catholics (captured at the time of 4th Crusade (1202–1204)).
1261-1453 The Palaeologan period at Byzantium church - church kept much of its former prestige with jurisdiction over Russia as well as the distant Caucasus, parts of the Balkans. At the same time the Palaeologan dynasty was embattled from every side, torn apart by civil wars, and gradually shrinking. The problem of ecclesiastical union with the West in the hope, that a new Western Crusade might be made against the Turks, was also big issue.
This period was a period of an astonishing intellectual, spiritual, and artistic renaissance that influenced the entire Eastern Christian world.
1299The location of the center of the Orthodox Church was moved from Kiev to Vladimir, following the destruction of Kiev. It was significant change - before the Mongols invaded Russian lands, Kiev was the ecclesiastical center.

~1320 Kiev was conquered by Grand Duchy Lithuanian (see south-west Wars), and since this time, Kiev was the site of a new Catholic bishopric. The Tatars, who also claimed Kiev, retaliated in 1324–25, so while Kiev was ruled by a Lithuanian prince, it had to pay a tribute to the Golden Horde. Only in 1362 Kiev finally became a part of Grand Duchy of Lithuania.
~1325 Saint Peter, Metropolitan of Moscow and all Russia moved his see from Vladimir to Moscow. In spite of the move, his office remained officially entitled «Metropolitan of Kiev and All Rus» until the autocephalous election of Saint Jonah in 1448. After Peter canonization, his influence was spread all over Moscovy. Accordingly, many churches were dedicated to Peter the Metropolitan in Moscow and other cities of Russia.
1330-40s Catholic Norway and Sweden launched a Crusade against the Novgorodian land.

1314-92 Sergius of Radonezh - a spiritual leader and monastic reformer of medieval Russia. Together with Venerable Seraphim of Sarov, he is one of the ROC's most highly venerated saints. As an ascetic, Sergius did not take part in the political life of the country. However, he blessed Dmitry Donskoy when he went to fight the Tatars in the signal Battle of Kulikovo field, but only after he was certain Dmitry had pursued all peaceful means of resolving the conflict. He was an inspirational figure to make peace and unite Russian lands under the leadership of Moscow.
middle of the 14th - early the 15th centuryThe 1st Russian heretical sect Strigolniki, established in Pskov and in Novgorod and Tver.
They renounced all ecclesiastic hierarchy and monasticism, sacraments of priesthood, communion, repentance, and baptism, which had been accompanied by large fees to the benefit of the clergy. The Strigolniki demanded the right to a religious sermon for laymen. Their sermons were full of social motifs: they reproached the rich for enslaving the free and the poor.
late 14th century The monastic revival in northern Russia, associated with the name of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, as well as the revival of iconography (painter Andrei Rublyov). It was influenced by centre of Eastern Orthodox monasticism, Greek Mount Athos. Saint Stephen of Perm, the follower of Saint Sergius of Radonezh, who converted the Komi to Christianity, continued the tradition of Saints Cyril and Methodius, the 9th-century «apostles to the Slavs,» in translating Scripture and the liturgy into the language or dialect spoken by the native people. He was followed by numerous other missionaries who promoted Orthodox Christianity throughout Asia.
1387 The Grand Duchy of Lithuania became Catholic and united dynastically with the Poles. The Catholic Grand Princes attempted to establish separate metropolitanates in the Russian lands they controlled. The ROC always fought against this, in large part out of fear that the new metropolitanates would be converted to Catholic provinces.
After liberation from Mongols Moscow and Lithuania aspired to become leaders of a Russian state. The church support of Moscow was decisive in the victory of the Muscovites. The western Russian principalities could only obtain the temporary appointment of separate metropolitans in Galicia and Belorussia. Late in the 14th century, the metropolitan residing in Moscow again centralized ecclesiastical power in Russia.

1439-52 Union of Florence - union between East and West church (Constantinople and Rome). Eastern church signed this document due to political desperation and the fear of facing the Turks again. The official proclamation of the union was postponed until 1452. The Greek metropolitan of Kiev and all Russia, Isidore, was one of the major architects of the Union of Florence. Having signed the decree, he returned to Moscow in 1441 as a Roman cardinal, but was rejected by both church and state, arrested, and then allowed to escape to Lithuania.
1448 ROC became autocephalous, administratively independent under a metropolitan of all Russia, residing in Moscow.
1453 Constantinople fell to the Ottoman Turks. Christians in Muslim caliphate had freedom of worship. It permitted the church to survive as an institution. The prestige of the church was actually increased because, for Christians, the church was now the only source of education and of social promotion.

1458 Rome appointed another metropolitan of «Kiev and all Russia» in territories controlled by Poland. After this the fate of the two churches of all Russia became quite distinct. The metropolitanate of Kiev developed under the control of Roman Catholic Poland.
1470s Muscovite Russia had acquired the consciousness of being the last bulwark of true Orthodoxy. Ivan III married Sofia, the niece of the last Byzantine emperor. The Muscovite sovereign started using the double-headed eagle as his state emblem.
starting 1470s The Heresy of the Judaizers «Zhidovstvuyushchiye» (the Thought of Skhariya the Jew) - religious concept in Novgorod and in Moscow, beginning of a new era of schism in Russia. It may have developed from the earlier Strigolniki religious concept.
Zhidovstvuyuschiye may be loosely translated as «those who follow Jewish traditions».
This was Zacharia, a scholar from Kiev brought to Novgorod from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Zacharia translated a number of Hebrew texts on astronomy, logic and philosophy. «The Belief of Skhariya» denied the Trinity and the divinity of Christ, monasticism, ecclesiastic hierarchy, ceremonies, and immortality of soul.
The Judaizers and their teachings spread to Moscow, where they gained the support of Prince Ivan III.
end of 15th century A split in the ROC for «Non-possessors» (Saint Nilus of Sora), and «Josephites» (Saint Joseph of Volokolamsk).
«Josephites» — connected with the powerful people, were in favor for the greater good of an Orthodox land: the monasteries must be strong and wealthy, that their lands should be vast and in excellent condition, so that the suffering population would always find in these monasteries both spiritual support and material help.
«Non-possessors» - more inward-looking, wary of owning any property at all—never mind peasants—as incompatible with monasticism, and loathe to get involved in politics.

Sobor of 1503, Sobor of 1504, Sobor of 1531 Sobor (Council) of 1504 condemned heresy of the Sect of Skhariya the Jew, which repudiated some of the dogmas and rites of the ROC. As a result of this sobor, many sectarians were either executed or imprisoned.
The Council of 1503 condemned the non-possessors and supported the preservation of Church landowning with the subjection of the Church itself to the Moscow princes. At the Sobor (Council) of 1531 the non-possessors suffered their final defeat.
1510 The monk Philotheus of Pskov addressed Vasily III as «tsar» (emperor), saying: «Two Romes have fallen, but the third stands, and a fourth there will not be». The meaning of the sentence was that the first Rome was heretical, the second—Byzantium—was under Turkish control, and the third was Moscow.

Starting 16th century the Russian tsars always considered themselves as successors of the Byzantine emperors and the political protectors and financial supporters of Orthodoxy throughout the Balkans and the Middle EaSaint Many traditions of medieval Byzantium were faithfully kept. The development of church architecture, iconography, and literature also added to the prestige of the «3rd Rome». But Muscovite political ideology was always influenced more by the beginnings of western European secularism and by Asiatic despotism than by Roman or Byzantine law - the secular goals of the Muscovite state and the will of the monarch always superseded canonical or religious considerations.
1540s Ivan IV (the Terrible) was crowned emperor. In 1551 he solemnly presided in Moscow over a great council of Russian bishops, the Stoglav («Council of 100 Chapters»), in which various issues of discipline and liturgy were settled and numerous Russian saints were canonized.
1566-72 Saint Philip II of Moscow - Metropolitan of Moscow during the reign of Ivan the Terrible. He was one of a few Metropolitans, who was asking to abolish Oprichnina, and it is widely believed that the Tsar had him murdered on that account. He is venerated as a saint and martyr in the Eastern Orthodox Church.
Ivan deposed Philip from office by raising incredible charges of sorcery and dissolute living. Philip was arrested and imprisoned, fettered with chains, with a heavy collar around his neck, and was deprived of food for a few days in succession.
In 1569, Philip II was strangled two days before Christmas.
1589 1st Patriarch of «Patriarch of Moscow and all Russia» - the head of the ROC, the metropolitan Job. Confirmed later by the other Eastern Patriarchs, the new Patriarchate obtained the 5th place in the honorific order of the Oriental sees, after the Patriarchs of Constantinople, Alexanderia, Antioch, and Jerusalem.
1595-96 The Union of Brest - the decision of Orthodox bishops in the region of what is modern Ukraine, Poland and Belarus («Rus») to depart from the Orthodox Church and place themselves under the Pope of Rome in order to avoid being ruled by the newly established Patriarch of Moscow. Thus was formed the Unia.
The union was strongly supported by the king of Poland and grand duke of Lithuania, but opposed by Cossack movement for Ukrainian self-rule, by some bishops and nobles of Rus'. The result was «Rus' fighting against Rus» and the splitting of many traditionally Orthodox Christian people from their ancestral Church. Only in 1620 Orthodox hierarchy was consecrated.
The situation in Little Rus before the Union of Brest: A large area in the southwest of the Rus' Empire, Little Rus', became absorbed by Lithuania and Poland after the destruction of Kievan power by the Tartars. In 1386, the kingdoms of Poland and Lithuania were united under a single ruler - the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. The monarch of the united realm was Roman Catholic, and a substantial minority of the population were Orthodox. These Orthodox were in a difficult situation because the Patriarch of Constantinople could exercise no control in Poland, as the former Byzantine capital had fallen to the Muslim Turks, and the bishops were appointed by the Roman Catholic king of Poland. The authorities in Poland always tried to make the Orthodox submit to the pope to reunify Christianity. With the arrival of the Jesuits in 1564, pressure on the Orthodox increased. Constantinople was under Muslim rule and Moscow had recently been elevated to the status of Patriarchate.
The 1st Protestant churches (Lutheran, Reformed) in Russia appeared in the 16th and 17th centuries in major towns and cities such as Moscow in connection with expatriate communities from western Europe. The Lutheran churches, in particular, represented a sizeable minority in pre-1917 Russia.

1604-49 In 1604 False Dmitry I publicly converted to Roman Catholicism, in order to attract the support of powerful Jesuits in lieu of the king of Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. The Papacy saw it as an opportunity to increase the hold of Roman Catholicism in Russia.
In 1613 the Russians, under the leadership of the Orthodox Church, ended the Time of Troubles by setting up the new Romanov dynasty. Fyodor Romanov as Patriarch of ROC (Filaret) and his son, Michael Romanov as tsar, quickly reestablished absolutism in Moscovy. The ROC had again played a crucial role in protecting the Russian state, but it was not rewarded its independence.
The government, inspired chiefly by Patriarch Filaret, sought to build Russian unity by promoting anti-Catholicism, anti-Protestantism, anti-Polonism and xenophobia and banned the Jesuits from Moscovy, prohibited travel abroad by Russians and ruled that capital punishment will be exacted for the offense of a Russian professing the Catholic church.

starting 1615 An Orthodox hierarchy was reestablished in Kiev. The famous Academy of Kiev ( Kiev-Mohyla Academy), was established. This school served as the theological training centre for almost the entire Russian high clergy in the 17th and 18th centuries.
middle of 17th century Patriarch Nikon (reigned 1652–58) decided to restore the power and prestige of the church by declaring that the Patriarchal office was superior to that of the tsar. He forced the tsar Alexis Romanov to swear obedience to the church.
starting 1653 Raskol - the splitting of the ROC into an official church and the Old Believers movement in the mid-17th century. It was triggered by the reforms of Patriarch Nikon, which aimed to establish uniformity between Greek and ROC practices.
Constants issues in ROC: numerous mistakes in translated from the Greek books, differences between the liturgical practices of the Russians and the Greeks.
Nikon’s solution: to order the exact compliance of all the Russian practices with the contemporary Greek equivalents.
Old Believers resistance reason: why Russia had to accept the practices of the Greeks, who had betrayed Orthodoxy in Florence and had been justly punished by God by becoming captives of the infidel Turks.
Nikon was ultimately deposed for his opposition to the tsar, but his reforms were confirmed by a great council of the church.
1686 The Moscow Patriarchate obtained a part of the Metropolis of Kiev (left-bank Ukraine), which until then comprised the Orthodox population on the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, — from the Patriarchate of Constantinople.
Relations with the West, especially after the 17th century, were often vitiated in the East by the incredible corruption of the Turkish government, which constantly fostered diplomatic intrigues.

Church reforms of Peter Great:
1)Peter used the model of Protestant Europe;
2) Peter abolished the Patriarchate;
3) In 1721 Peter transformed the central administration of the church into a department of the state - «Holy Governing Synod», which was modeled after the state-controlled synods of the Lutheran church in Sweden and Prussia and was tightly controlled by the state.
4) Peter issued Spiritual Regulation ( Dukhovny Reglament) that served as bylaws for all religious activities in Russia;
5) Peter’s ecclesiastical advisers were Ukrainian prelates, graduates of the Kievan academy, who introduced in Russia a Western system of theological education;
6)Peter established an office of Procurator and the Chief Procurator - the official title of the head of the Most Holy Synod, effectively the lay head of the ROC, and a member of the Tsar's cabinet;

7)The legal division of Russian society by a rigid caste system was taking place. The clergy was one of the castes with its own school system, and there was little possibility for its children to choose another career;
The Spiritual Regulation of Peter the Great remained in force until the very end of the Russian Empire (1917).
The Synodal Era includes the rise of the dissenters and sectarians.

Church reforms of Catherine the Great:
1) Religious pluralism - ROC was forced to stop seeking new converts in Muslim lands. Catherine II sought to foster stability to the far reaches of the Russian empire. Catherine professed a belief that every Russian subject had to have a religion, but it did not necessarily have to be Russian Orthodox Christianity;
2) Secularization of Church lands: monastic lands were effectively nationalized, with some one million peasants on monastery land becoming state serfs practically overnight;
3) The salaries of all ranks of the clergy were paid by the state instead of the Church, resulting in the clergy effectively becoming employees of the state;
4) The closure of monasteries and convents, and the concentration of monks and nuns in a smaller number of larger establishments;
5) The large numbers of German settlers were invited to Russia, including Mennonites, Lutherans, Reformed and also Roman Catholics.

~1759-1833 Saint Seraphim of Sarov - one of the most renowned monastic figures in Russian Orthodox history. He served as confessor to faithful and to pilgrims and was reputed to work some wonders. He was acclaimed a saint by the ROC in 1903 and proposed as a standard for spirituality.
1722-94 Saint Paisius Velichkovsky - an Eastern Orthodox monk and theologian, responsible for the renewal of monastic life in the 18th century, on Mount Athos, Romania and Imperial Russia; helped spread staretsdom or the concept of the spiritual elders («startsy») to the Slavic world. He is a pivotal figure in Orthodox Church history.
starting 1770s Russian Freemasonry - society that united some 14 lodges and about 400 government officials. Most Russian lodges were attracted to the Swedish Rite. In 1782 Russia was presented as the 8th province of the Rite of Strict Observance. Spooked by the French Revolution, Catherine clamped down Freemasons in the late 1780s. Her son Paul interdicted all Masonic assemblies in 1799.
1794 Russian monks settled on Kodiak Island - the 1st Orthodox communities were established in Alaska and on the West Coast, as the extreme end of the Russian missionary expansion through Siberia.

The rule of Pavel I:
Paul I was easing policy towards the Orthodox Church.
1798 Paul I became a Grand Master of Knights Order of Malta. The Order was dispersed, following Napoleon's taking of Malta, and a large number of refugee Knights sheltered in St Petersburg.
1797 The foundation of the Saint Petersburg Theological Academy, the part of the Alexander Nevsky Lavra.

19th century The liberation the Balkan churches from the Turkish yoke:
The reasons for the disintegration of Turkish domination in the Balkans: the ideas of the French Revolution, the nationalistic movements, and the intention to bring back Christianity. The Balkan churches freely developed both their national identities and their religious life. Russia supported the rise against the Turks to fight for «faith and homeland».
~1812-1876 Russian Synodal Bible - the 1st Orthodox Church Bible. The Russian Bible Society was founded with the consent of Alexander I, to prepare a Bible in the vernacular. The work was undertaken by Philaret, rector of the Theological Academy of Saint Petersburg (afterward metropolitan of Moscow), and other members of the faculty of the academy. The Society translated, printed and distributed Holy Scripture in over 40 languages.

DOB1782-1867 Metropolitan Philaret - Metropolitan of Moscow and Kolomna and the most influential figure in the ROC for more than 40 years ( time of 3 emperors: Alexander I, Nicolai I, Alexander II).
The Metropolitan believed that it was his duty to educate about the Church's teachings and traditions. His 1823 Catechism has been an influential book in Russia and in other countries for nearly 200 years. Saint Philaret himself was one of the forces behind the spiritual revival in 19th century Russia.
Metropolitan Philaret tried to regain some of the Church's freedom to administer its own affairs, regarding Church and State as 2 separate entities working in harmony.
1801The Russians annexed Georgia, suppressed Georgia’s autocephaly, and the church was governed by a Russian exarch until 1917, when the Georgians reestablished their ecclesiastical independence.
The church of Georgia was the witness of one of the most ancient Christian traditions. It received autocephaly from its mother church of Antioch as early as the 6th century and developed a literary and artistic civilization in its own language.
1826-28 Armenia was incorporated into the Russian Empire (Treaty of Turkmenchay) signed between Russia and Persia following the Russo-Persian War. Russia was viewed as a protector of the Christian subjects in the Ottoman Empire, including the Armenians.
Even being dependant from the state, ROC kept its self-awareness, promoted education, theological research, biblical translations, and missionary work. In each of its 67 dioceses, the ROC created a seminary for the training of priests and teachers. 4 theological academies, or graduate schools, were established in major cities (Moscow, Saint Petersburg, Kiev, Kazan). They provided a generally excellent theological training for both Russians and foreigners.
The prophetic ministry of the «startsy» - the spiritual elders, who acted as living examples of the standards of the spiritual life or as advisers and confessors. They attracted large masses of the common people and also intellectuals. The startsy of Optino - Leonid (1768–1841), Makarius (1788–1860), and Ambrose (1812–91) - were visited not only by thousands of ordinary Christians but also by the writers N.Gogol, L.Tolstoy, and F.Dostoyevsky.
1863-64 After suppressing the Polish Insurrection the Russian government took decisive steps to eradicate Polish autonomy and influence and the power of the Catholic church in Right-Bank Ukraine, Belarus, and Lithuania.
During Alexander's II reign the Russification of west territories of Russia intensified. The Catholic church was abolished. The non-Russian language publications, books and theatre were prohibited. The growth of radical populism provoked government repressions, which in turn escalated antigovernment terrorism. Faced with this situation, the government prepared administrative and constitutional reforms that aroused hopes among west territories liberal circles. But Alexander's assassination put an end to these projects and hopes.
The history of Russian evangelical Protestantism was anticipated Molokan, Dukhobor, Stundists, Tolstoyan rural communes etc.
The 1st Russian Baptist communities arose in 3 widely separated regions of the Russian Empire (Transcaucasia, Ukraine, and Saint Petersburg) in the 1860-70ss.
When conservative tsar Alexander III ascended in 1881 to the throne, his former tutor and the Chief Procurator of the Holy Synod Constantine Pobedonostsev launched an energetic campaign against the heterodoxy based on a combination of repressive and educational measures. This campaign turned out to be a failure mostly due to passiveness of the official Church which was paralyzed by the strict control of the state.
DOB1829-1909 John of Kronstadt - Orthodox archpriest and a member of the Synod of the ROC. He was known for his mass common confessions, numerous miracles and charitable work, as well as for his monarchist, chauvinistic, anti-Semitic and anticommunist views. The grave of John became a place of pilgrimage.
Missionary expansion also continued, particularly in western Asia, Japan, and Alaska.

The rule of Nicholas II:
1)The eve of the 20th century must have appeared as 2 different worlds occupying the same physical space:
1st was the «outside» world of a growing bourgeoisie, the rise of popular culture, positivism, and materialism, quantum mechanics, the theory of relativity, the cinema, the cars, the airplanes etc.
2nd - mysterious «inside» world: F.Nietzsche and Z.Freud, Theosophy, Spiritualism etc.
The upper middle class and the intelligentsia responded by undertaking intense spiritual searches that took them in untraditional directions, namely to religious philosophies, orthodox and unorthodox, speculative mysticism, and occult and esoteric philosophies of every kind. Occultism was a popular intellectual fashion of the period.
2) October manifesto of 1905 declared the freedom of religion. It clause outraged the ROC because it allowed people to switch to evangelical Protestantism, which they denounced as heresy.

3) After 1905 tsar Nicholas II attempted to establish all-ROC Council, reestablish the church’s independence, lost since Peter the Great, and eventually to restore the Patriarchate.
4) Grigori Rasputin (1869-1916) - a Russian mystic and self-proclaimed holy man who befriended the family of Tsar Nicholas II and gained considerable influence in late imperial Russia.
At the time of deepening of conflict between State Duma and Holy Synod the phenomenon of Rasputin related to popular in elite manifestation of Russian ascetism and mysticism. Tsar Nicholas met Rasputin in 1906 , and immediately recognized him as a man of pure faith.
Rasputin became increasingly unpopular at the end of World War I. He was assassinated by a group of conservative noblemen.

1910-30 The Ottoman Empire's treatment of its Christian subjects varied during its history. During the golden age of the empire, Christians and Jews were considered protected under Ottoman law ( the millet system). During the decline and fall of the empire, the Christian minorities suffered a number of atrocities: the ethnic cleansing of Bulgarians in 1913 and the Armenian Genocide, Greek Genocide and Assyrian Genocide, all of which occurred during the last few decades of the empire under the influence of Pan-Turkism.

October Revolution:
1) The World War I and the Russian Revolution created turmoil in Russia. Patriarch (Tikhon, Metropolitan of Moscow) was elected only in 1917, days after October revolution, after a period of about 200 years of the Synodal rule in the ROC.
2) The Bolshevik government considered all religion as the «opium of the people»;
3) A decree of 1918, depriving the church of all legal rights, including that of owning property. The Petrine Synodal higher church authority and the Ober-Procurator were abolished forever;
4)At decree of 1922 - the confiscation of all valuable objects preserved in the churches;
5) The schism between the «Renovated» and «Living Church»:
Living Church was faithful to the Patriarch - these bishops and clergy were tried and executed.
The Renovated Church betrayed Patriarch, admitted married priests to the episcopate and permitted widowed priests to remarry.
6) The Russian Revolution provoked a massive political emigration, predominantly to western Europe and particularly France. It included eminent churchmen, theologians, and Christian intellectuals, such as Bulgakov, Berdyayev, and Zenkovsky. In 1922 Patriarch Tikhon appointed Metropolitan Evlogy as head of the émigré churches, with residence in Paris.

The rule of Joseph Stalin:
1)In late 1920s and ’30s the church suffered a bloody persecution that claimed thousands of victims. By 1939 only few Orthodox bishops and 100 churches could officially function; the church was practically suppressed.
2) Stalin revived the ROC at the time of World War II 1941-45, to intensify patriotic support for the war effort. The church received permission to convene a council in 1943, that elected Sergius Patriarch of Moscow and all Rus'. The Moscow Theological Academy and Seminary which had been closed since 1918 was re-opened.
3)After World War II the Estonian, Latvian, and Lithuanian autonomies were again suppressed. After World War II communist regimes were established in the Balkan states. There were no attempts, however, to liquidate the churches entirely.

The era of Nikita Khrushchev and Leonid Brezhnev:
Nikita Khrushchev's anti-religious campaign of 1958-64 - the last large-scale anti-religious campaign undertaken in the Soviet Union. The aim of campaign was to achieve the atheist society that communism envisioned. Also Soviet government wanted to reduce the stature and membership of the church, grown up at the time of World War II.
It was carried out by mass closures of churches, monasteries, convents, seminaries. The campaign also included a restriction of parental rights for teaching religion to their children; a ban on the presence of children at church services; a ban of all services held outside of church walls; renewed enforcement of the 1929 legislation banning pilgrimages; disallowed the ringing of church bells and services in daytime. Non-fulfillment of these regulations by clergy would lead to disallowance of state registration for them. The state carried out forced retirement, arrests and prison sentences to clergymen, who criticized atheism or the anti-religious campaign.
The harsh measures against the church were continued through the Brezhnev era.
1970sIn the 1970s a broad movement of national dissent began to spread throughout the Soviet Union, which was largely suppressed by KGB by the end of the 1970s.

Perestroika and collapse of Soviet Union:
1)In 1988 1000th anniversary of the Baptism of Kievan Rus': government-supported celebrations took place in Moscow and other cities; many older churches and some monasteries were reopened; a ban on religious propaganda on state TV was finally lifted.
2)The communist governments throughout eastern Europe collapsed, effectively dissolving state control over churches and bringing new political and religious freedoms into the region.
3) Post-Soviet period 1990s:
Metropolitan Alexy presided over the partial return of Orthodox Christianity to Russian society after 70 years of repression, transforming the ROC to something resembling its pre-communist appearance; some 15,000 churches had been re-opened. The ROC also sought to fill the ideological vacuum left by the collapse of Communism.
4)The ROC branches in Belarus, Estonia, Latvia, Moldova and Ukraine since the 1990s enjoy various degrees of self-government.

The penetration  of Islam into the Khazar state began in the 7th century thanks to the Arab merchants.  The Khazar rulers viewed Islam as the religion of their enemies of the Arabs. Starting 7th century the Khazars became involved in a protracted war with the Muslim Caliphate for control of Caucasia. In 737 the Khazar Qaghan was captured by Muslims and was obliged to convert to Islam. This conversion was short-lived, as the Muslims were unable to maintain a military presence on the lower Volga. The wars with the Caliphate and an entente with Byzantium (reinforced by marital ties) against their common foe, the Muslims, brought the religious question to the fore. The Khazar more likely converted to Judaism, as it would not entail subordination to the Arabian caliph or Byzantine emperor.    

919-22  Volga Bulgaria of the early period was under the protectorate of Khazaria and its political influence. In an effort to get rid of the Khazar dependence, Bulgaria entered into an alliance with the Baghdad Caliphate.  The embassy was sent in response to a request by the king of the Volga Bulgars to help them against their enemies, the Khazars.  The Volga Bulgars attempted to convert Vladimir I of Kiev to Islam; however Vladimir rejected the notion of Rus' giving up wine, which he declared was the «very joy of their lives».  After Volga Bulgaria adopted Islam, the ancient Turkish written language was substituted by the Arabic one.  

The flourish  of Volga Bulgaria corresponds to the period of 11-13cc. The basic territory of the state significantly grew. Volga Bulgaria exported to Middle Asia, China, Vizantium, Russia the fur, timber, leather footwear, arms and other handmade goods. The capital of Volga Bulgaria town Bolgar in 10-14cc was built of stone and brick. Already the public water supply was here. Nowadays remained the ruins of The Black Chamber Mosque, Minor Minaret, Khan's Tomb, Northern Mausoleum, Cathedral Mosque.  Bulgars had their own scientists and poets, medicine. The flourish of the Bulgarian trade was much due to the location of the state on the most important intercontinental trade route - the Volga-Baltic route as well as to the high level of the craft and farming development.  

After the victory  on the river Kalka (1223), the Mongols defeated the southern Bulgarian cities and the capital Bilyar. The Mongol army passed the whole country: all the cities and fortresses were destroyed.  The devastated Volga Bulgaria was included into the Golden Horde.  The population of Volga Bulgaria was mostly Muslim. Under the influence of Bulgarian culture, more and more nomadic Mongols and Kipchaks were converted to Islam. On the other hand, the language used by Muslims of the Golden Horde transformed into the Kipchak language, adopted by all Muslim Volga Bulgars.

As a result of a later mixing of the Kipchak and Bolgar languages, the literary language of the Golden Horde became what is now called the Old Tatar language, and eventually evolved into the modern Tatar language. Some of Bulgaria's non-Islamic population kept the Bolgar language, which was influenced by the Mari language, a language commonly used in the territories they relocated to. This led to the development of the modern Chuvash language. The Mongols  were highly tolerant of most religions during the early Mongol Empire, and typically sponsored several at the same time. At the time of Genghis Khan in the 13th century, virtually every religion had found converts, from Buddhism to Eastern Christianity and Manichaeanism to Islam. Genghis Khan set up an institution that ensured complete religious freedom, though he himself was a Shamanist. Under his administration, all religious leaders were exempt from taxation, and from public service. Mongol emperors were known for organizing competitions of religious debates among clerics, and these would draw large audiences.  His son, Ögedei, built houses of worship for the Buddhist, Muslim, Christian, and Taoist followers. The dominant religions at that time were Shamanism, Tengrism and Buddhism, although Ogodei's wife was a Christian.  Genghis Khan divided his empire among his sons. The vast territory of Kazakhstan was divided between his 3 eldest sons. Large territory west of the Irtysh River, covering the northern part of Semirechye and the entire Central, Northern and Western Kazakhstan including the lower Volga was part of the Jochi Ulus. South and South-East Kazakhstan, that is a big part of Semirechye, was part of the Chagatai ulus, and the north-eastern Kazakhstan was given to Ogedei.   Ilkhanate, Golden Horde, and the Chagatai Khanates - 3 of the 4 principal khanates (except for the Yuan dynasty - Buddhism was the most influential religion within its territory) - embraced Islam, as the Mongol elite favored Islam to strengthen their rule over the Muslim majority populace.  As they were well educated and knew Turkish and Mongolian, Muslims became a favored class of officials with notable Mongol converts to Islam.  

~1313 Öz Beg Khan adopted Islam as the state religion of Golden Horde.  He built a large mosque in the Crimea in 1314 and proscribed Buddhism and Shamanism among the Mongols in the Golden Horde. By 1315, Öz Beg had successfully Islamicized the Horde and killed Jochid princes and Buddhist lamas who opposed his religious policy. Under the reign of Öz Beg, trade caravans went unmolested and there was general order in the Golden Horde. In 1333 Sarai was a large and beautiful city with vast streets and fine markets where Mongols, Alans, Kypchaks, Circassians, Russians, and Greeks each had their own quarters. Merchants had a special walled section of the city all to themselves.  

The Rise  of Moscow as the leading Rus' state with assistance of Mongols: 1316 With Öz Beg's assistance, the Grand duke Mikhail Yaroslavich won the battle against the party in Novgorod.  Mikhail rival Yury of Moscow ingratiated himself with Öz Beg so that he appointed him chief of the Rus' princes and gave him his sister, Konchak, in marriage. 1318 Yuri became grand duke once more, after Mikhail was summoned to Sarai and executed. 1327 The baskak Shevkal, cousin of Öz Beg, arrived in Tver from the Horde, with a large retinue. Rumors spread, that Shevkal wanted to occupy the throne for himself and introduce Islam to the city.  The incident in Tver caused Öz Beg to begin backing Moscow as the leading Rus' state.  Ivan I Kalita was granted the title of grand prince and given the right to collect taxes from other Russian potentates. Öz Beg also sent Ivan at the head of an army of 50,000 soldiers to punish Tver.   1340s The Black Death of the 1340s was a major factor contributing to the economic downfall of the Golden Horde. It struck the Crimea in 1345 and killed over 85,000 people.    

1430s  The collapse of the Golden Horde began: the Crimean Khanate, the Kazan Khanate, the Siberian Khanate formed.  The Golden Horde broke up into the Great (1433-1502) and Nogai (1440-1634) Horde. The Great Horde, the successor of the Golden Horde, claimed suzerainty over Muscovy.  Kazan Khanate (1438-1552) - Middle Volga;   Astrakhan Khanate (1459-1556) - Lower Volga;  Nogai Horde (1440-1634) - between the Volga and the Urals, as well as modern western Kazakhstan;  Crimean Khanate (1443-1783) - modern Crimea, southern Ukraine, Krasnodar Territory. The Crimean Khanate was established as an Ottoman vassal state.  Siberian Khanate (1490-1598) - from the Ural Mountains to the rivers Nadym and Pima.  

1552, 1554, 1556 In a series of wars, Ivan IV the Terrible conquered or forced the submission of 3 Muslim Khanates (Kazan, Astrakhan and Siberian). The annexation of the Tatar khanates meant the conquest of vast territories, access to large markets and control of the entire length of the Volga River. In addition, the subjugation of Muslim khanates actually turned Muscovy into an empire. 1552-1762 The period from the Russian conquest of Kazan in 1552 by Ivan the Terrible to the ascension of Catherine the Great in 1762 featured systematic repression of Muslims through policies of exclusion and discrimination - as well as the destruction of Muslim culture by the elimination of outward manifestations of Islam such as mosques.  

Before Catherine the Great, the main desire of Czars was somehow to convert Russian Muslims (mainly Volga Tatars at that time) to Christianity. The methods were different. While Ivan the Terrible simply destroyed mosques and forcibly baptized Muslims, later rulers offered them monetary incentives and amnesty. 1571 The Tatars of the Crimean Khanate, the last remaining successor to the Golden Horde, continued to raid Southern Russia and burnt down parts of Moscow in 1571. Until the late 18th century, Crimean Tatars maintained a massive slave-trade with the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East, exporting about 2 million slaves from Russia and Ukraine over the period 1500–1700.   For centuries  the North Caucasus remained a quintessential frontier region, the periphery of several competing empires. The diverse people of the North Caucasus (Dagestan, Chechnya, Kabardinia, Adyge, Ossetia) were Muslim, even their adherence to Islam varied significantly. In medieval times, it was the borderland of the Byzantine empire, the Sasanid Persia, and the Khazar kaganate. By the 16th century it continued to be the borderland of newly risen empires - the Ottoman, the Safavid Persia, and Russia. Its geography and the highly fragmented nature of the indigenous societies on the one hand, and the remoteness of the region from imperial centers on the other, allowed the region to retain political independence until its incremental conquest and colonization by Russia during the 18-19centuries. "  From the early 16th-century up to including the course of the 19th century, all of Transcaucasia and southern Dagestan was ruled by various successive Iranian empires (the Safavids, Afsharids, and the Qajars) and the Ottoman Turks. In the respective areas they ruled, in both the North Caucasus and South Caucasus, Shia Islam and Sunni Islam spread, resulting in a fast and steady conversion of many more ethnic Caucasian peoples.  The primary difference in practice comes in that Sunni Muslims mainly rely on the Sunnah, a record of the teachings and sayings of the Prophet Muhammad to guide their actions while the Shiites more heavily on their ayatollahs, whom they see as a sign of God on earth.  For centuries the Caucasian region native elites and the clergy (ulema) often collaborated and coexisted comfortably. The local power elites represented customary law (adat). Muslim clergy (ulema), which had an alternative power, wanted to extend the rule of Islamic law (sharia) at the expense of customary law. For the ulema, the Islamization of the society was not about particularities but about commonalities, about erasing differences through the Arabization of the language and culture and the Islamization of law and lifestyle.  

Russian law  of 17th century legally allowed Islamic slavery with no racial restrictions: Russians, Germans, Poles, and Lithuanians were allowed to be sold to Crimean Tatars in Moscow. In 1665 Tatars were allowed to buy from the Russians, Polish and Lithuanian slaves. Before 1649 Russians could be sold to Muslims under Russian law in Moscow. This contrasted with other places in Europe outside Russia where Muslims were not allowed to own Christians.  

Starting 18th century  imperial Russia started the process of conquest of Caucasus region, with the support of the military, bureaucracy, missionaries, settlers, courts, and educators. The Ottoman and Persian empires had never succeeded in conquering and annexing the Caucasian region and remained content with collecting payments in tribute, taxes, and slaves. "  Initially, Russia’s relationship with the indigenous elites was similar to the experience of other colonial empires. The elites were to be co-opted and turned into loyal servants of the imperial government. Yet by the mid-18th century, the Russian expansion in the North Caucasus turned into an aggressive expropriation of lands, with the deportation of local villagers, harboring of native fugitives, and their conversion to Orthodox Christianity.  

1783 The Annexia of Crimea by the Russian Empire during the reign of Catherine the Great. Under the Russian Empire, Crimean Muslims faced harsh persecution for their religious identity and cultural activism. Crimea was the capital of Jadidism, a movement for political and cultural reforms among the Russian Empire’s Muslims. During anti-religious campaigns, most of the peninsula’s mosques were closed down; Jadids were purged and executed by the Russian Empire. It remained a part of Russia until 1954 when then Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev transferred it to the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic.   1788 The Orenburg Muslim Spiritual Assembly (OMSA) - a state-controlled religious administration in the Russian Empire that had jurisdiction over certain aspects of Islamic activity in Siberia, the Volga-Ural region, and parts of Central Asia, including the Kazakh steppe. It was established by order of Russian Empress Catherine II.   The 1st mufti demanded the same status as the Metropolitan of the Russian Orthodox Church. His influence was severely limited by Russian authorities. Local authorities then decreed mufti's duty to administer strictly religious matters, and not to touch secular ones.  

1800-64 The Russian conquest of the Caucasus. In that era the Russian Empire expanded to control the region between the Black Sea and Caspian Sea, the territory that is modern Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, and parts of Iran and Turkey, as well as the North Caucasus region of modern Russia. Multiple wars were fought against the local rulers of the regions, as well as the dominant powers, the Ottoman Empire and Persian Empire, for control. By 1864 the last regions were brought under Russian control.  The dilemmas of Russian colonial rule over Caucasus region: 1) The government policy of linking the process of the region's colonization with Christianity pushed the natives away into a deeper embrace of Islam.

2) Was the Caucasus to become a colony or a province of the Russian empire?  But even that modest proposition of considering the newly-acquired territories as economic colonies was unacceptable and unbefitting to the imperial self-image. A similar dilemma arose for newly-conquered Central Asia in the 1860s. 3)  Were the natives to be subjected to Russian imperial laws or remain under their traditional ones? If it was the latter, were they to follow their customary law (adat) or religious law (sharia)?  The advice was consistently ignored, and the conflict between the imperial objectives and colonial practices was not easily reconciled. The government  could try to overcome resistance by the application of brute military force, which was the preferred method for most Russian military commanders and governors. Another way of pacifying the population was to offer privileges, incentives, and educational opportunities.  The principal strategy of the Russian government in 2nd half of the 19th century: 1)  Cooperation of the elites, who were bestowed with high military ranks, large annuities, and military assistance against their rivals, speaking the local language and practicing Islam. 2) A different type of acculturated native - one who could represent Russian interests and remained influential in his own society. 3) Russian empire promoted migration by other Russian and non-Muslim populations into Muslim lands and other policies such as land grants. 4) Recognition of the duality of legal and social structures (colonial rule) - the natives relied on their own laws with the possibility of final appeals to Russian supervisory officials (pristavi) and military governors.  These strategic objectives had a partial success because Russian policies resulted in the creation of pro-Russian elites and later intelligentsia that supported integration with Russia.  At the same time, like most colonial empires, Russia’s impact failed to involve the larger segments of the population that remained rural, isolated, and under the control of the Islamic clergy. In fact, the more native elites absorbed Russian education and manners, the more hostile was their reception among the common populace. The resistance  of Caucasian people:  For over 100 years – between 1763 and 1864 – the Circassians fought Russian armies in the mountains of Caucasia. The Circassians deployed effective guerilla warfare tactics against the Russians during the war. 1864-67 The aftermath of Russo-Circassian War was the Circassian genocide - the Russian Empire's ethnic cleansing, killing, forced migration, and expulsion of the majority of the Circassians, who presented the major part of the North Caucasus and the northeast shore of the Black Sea. The displaced people moved primarily to the Ottoman Empire. Today this area (the Krasnodar and Sochi regions) has an overwhelmingly Slavic population and is considered perfectly «Russian».  Circassian activists currently estimate that 90% of Circassians – ~3 million people – were banished from Caucasia by Russia during the expulsion process.  By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, some of the pro-Russian elites attracted by the language of ethnic identity and national sovereignty began to side with commoners, fusing the ideas of national liberation with Islamic identity. 1829-59 The Murid War (the Russian Conquest of Chechnya and Daghestan) was the eastern component of the Caucasian War of 1817–1864. In the Murid War, the Russian Empire conquered the independent peoples of the eastern Ciscaucasus.  When the Russians annexed Georgia in 1801 they had to control the Georgian Military Road in the central Caucasus – the only practical north-south route across the mountains. Russian control of the road meant the division of the fighting in the Caucasian War into 2 theatres:  1) west of the road, in the Russo-Circassian War;  2) east the tribes joined in the Caucasian Imamate, a military-theocratic state which held out for 30 years (the state was established by Ghazi Muhammad in 1829–32, came under the rule of Imam Shamil from 1834-59).  In 1834 Shamil took his place as the prime leader of the Caucasian resistance and the 3rd Imam of the Caucasian Imamate.  Under Russian pressure spiritual Sufi groups became merged with the idea of Gazivat and Jihad or holy war. The ideas of religious duty, obedience to a master, strict religious law and holy war became the basis of a military-theocratic state that resisted the huge Russian Empire for 30 years. Religion was important for holding together the many independent clans and villages.   late 19th and early 20th century The Jadids - Muslim modernist reformers within the Russian Empire. Jadids maintained that Muslims in the Russian Empire had entered a period of decay that could only be rectified by the acquisition of a new kind of knowledge and modernist, European-modeled cultural reform. Jadids were marked by their widespread use of print media in promoting their messages and advocacy of the «new method» of teaching in the maktabs of the empire.   The Cossack  institution recruited and incorporated Muslim Mishar Tatars. Cossack rank was awarded to Bashkirs. Muslim Turkics and Buddhist Kalmyks served as Cossacks. The Cossack Ural, Terek, Astrakhan, and Don Cossack hosts had Kalmyks in their ranks. Mishar Muslims, Teptiar Muslims, service Tatar Muslims, and Bashkir Muslims joined the Orenburg Cossack Host. Cossack non Muslims shared the same status with Cossack Siberian Muslims. Muslim Cossacks in Siberia requested an Imam. Cossacks in Siberia included Tatar Muslims like in Bashkiria.  

Right after October Revolution: 1917 An appeal to 'All the Muslim Workers of Russia and the East' - the Muslims of the Soviet Union were initially given more religious autonomy than members of the ROC. This was in contrast to life under the Tsars, when Muslims were suppressed and the Orthodox Church was the official state religion.  Some principles of Islamic law were instituted alongside the Communist legal system, Jadids and other «Islamic socialists» were given positions of power within the government, and an affirmative action system called «korenizatsiya» (nativisation) was implemented to help local Muslim populations. Friday, the Muslim Sabbath, was declared a legal day of rest throughout Central Asia.

 6 republics in Soviet Union had a Muslim majority: Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kirghizia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. There was also a large Muslim population in the Volga-Ural region and in the northern Caucasus region of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. Many Tatar Muslims also lived in Siberia and other regions.  In forming the USSR, the Bolsheviks wanted to include as much territory of the former Russian Empire as possible. This meant they were faced with conflict in attempting to establish communism in regions with strong Islamic influences. While actively encouraging atheism in the USSR, Soviet authorities allowed limited religious activities in the 6 Muslim republics. Mosques operated in most large cities within these territories, though the number decreased dramatically from 25,000 in 1917 to 500 in the 1970s.  The majority of the Muslims within the USSR were Sunnis, with only about 10% Shia Muslims, most of whom lived in Azerbaijan.   starting 2nd half of 1920s Under Joseph Stalin rule mosques began to be closed or turned into warehouses throughout Central Asia. Religious leaders were persecuted, religious schools were closed down. The Soviet government interpreted the paranji veil Muslim women wore as meaning they were oppressed, and began the Hujum to stop the practice. 1943-44 During World War II the Soviet government conducted a series of deportations to Siberia and the Central Asian republics. Collaboration with Nazi Germany was cited as the official reason for the operation, but this has been disputed by accusations of ethnic cleansing against the USSR. The Crimean Tatars, Chechens, Ingushs, Balkars, Karachays, and Meskhetian Turks were some of the groups which were deported, all being predominantly Muslim. Severe loss of life resulted during and after these deportations.  The mass deportation of Crimean Tatar Muslims began in 1944. More than 32,000 NKVD troops participated in deporting over 193,000 Crimean Tatars. 1943  Stalin attempt to cleanse the northeast Caucasus of selected native peoples. Many of them perished during deportations and later in exile. Yet most of them returned following Nikita Khrushchev’s amnesty in 1956.   1980s-1990s In 1989, as part of the relaxation of religious restrictions by the USSR, some additional Muslim associations were formed, and a number of the mosques that had been closed by the government were reopened. The Soviet government also announced plans to permit the education of a limited number of imams in the cities of Ufa and Baku.  In the volatile years following the Soviet Union’s dissolution, Russian president Boris Yeltsin moved to rectify these Stalin-era injustices, but various ethnic groups mobilized to compete for resources and territorial control. In Chechnya, former Soviet military officer Dzokhar Dudayev declared an independent nation-state, the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria. 1st and 2nd Russian-Chechen wars followed.  The North Caucasus region continued to be the region of Islamic radicalization.  The failure to address the problems of poor governance in the North Caucasus sustained the Islamist insurgency in the region. The failure to develop an intermediary Muslim civil society in Russia more generally also contributed to the continuing appeal of Islamist radicalism, particularly among younger Russian Muslims.

Jews  have been present in contemporary Armenia and Georgia since the Babylonian captivity. The presence of Jewish people in the territories corresponding to modern Belarus, Ukraine, and the European part of Russia can be traced back to the 7th–14th centuries CE.
  Judaism  in Khazar state - the most striking characteristic of the Khazar state (Turkic by origin) was the apparent adoption of Judaism by the Qaghans and the greater part of the ruling class in about 740. Only members of the ruling clan who professed Judaism could become Qaghans.
 The Qaghan - a sacralized figure in the institution of sacral kingship in Khazaria, who reigned but did not rule. The actual governance of the realm was left to the «king» who had the title of Qaghan-beg.
 

~starting 965  Khazaria, already in decline, was attacked by the Rus’ and Oghuz (a neighboring Turkic tribal union). After the conquest of the Khazarian kingdom by Sviatoslav I of Kiev (969), the Khazar Jewish population may have assimilated or migrated in part.
986  Jews from the Khazar Khaganate made an official visit to Prince Vladimir, seeking to convince him to formally convert the region of Kievan Rus to Judaism.
 

1037 The Jewish Gate adjacent to the local Jewish quarter - one of the gates of the new defensive walls erected in Kiev. Jewish sources mention a group of people called choilchei Rusya («those headed to Rus»). These were probably Jewish merchants participating in the East-West trade on the commercial route crossing Kiev. Members of the local community oversaw financial transactions and probably had connections with the princely court.
 This way the Jewish population in Kiev, in present-day Ukraine, in the 11th and 12th centuries was restricted to a separate Jewish quarter.
 

1113 The revolt against Jews - Prince Sviatoslav held the Jews of Kiev in favor: in the 12th century Kiev was the center of trade between the East and the West, and that the Jews and the Italians controlled most of it. After the death of Prince Sviatoslav the residents of Kiev attacked the Jewish quarter. Vladimir Monomach intervened and managed to stop the riots. In 1129, Jewish Street was destroyed in a fire of the town.
 
Although  northeastern Russia had a low Jewish population, countries just to its west had rapidly growing Jewish populations, as waves of anti-Jewish pogroms and expulsions from the countries of Western Europe marked the last centuries of the Middle Ages, a sizable portion of the Jewish populations there moved to the more tolerant countries of Central and Eastern Europe, as well as the Middle East.
 
 

1239 At the time of the Tatars invasion the Jews shared the fate of the other inhabitants.
 At the same time, the Jews there were allowed the privileges given them in other Tatar countries, and for this reason the other inhabitants of Kiev were ill-disposed toward the Jews.
 

1320 The Jews received many privileges after the Lithuanian Grand Duke Gedimin conquered South Russia, including Kiev, and founded the Lithuanian Russian empire. During the reign of Withhold (1392-1430), who granted privileges to all the Jews of Lithuania, they enjoyed great prosperity.
1330-70 Expelled en masse from England, France, Spain and most other Western European countries at various times, and persecuted in Germany in the 14th century, many Western European Jews migrated to Poland upon the invitation of Polish ruler Casimir III the Great to settle in Polish-controlled areas of Eastern Europe.

 After settling in Poland (later Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth) and Hungary (later Austria-Hungary), the population expanded into the lightly populated areas of Ukraine and Lithuania, which were to become part of the expanding Russian Empire.
 In the shtetls (small towns with large Jewish population) populated almost entirely by Jews, or in the middle-sized town where Jews constituted a significant part of population, Jewish communities traditionally ruled themselves according to halakha - collective body of Jewish religious laws derived from the written and Oral Torah.
 
 

Documents  from the 15th century mention several Kievan Jews who were wealthy tax collectors. At the end of the century, the community was renowned for its high level of education, which could largely be attributed to the efforts of Rabbi Moses ben Yakov, author of religious commentaries which have retained relevance until the present day.
1425  Judaizing Heresy - originated among the Russians in Kiev, and spread thence to Novgorod and Moscow through Zechariah of Kiev, who went from Kiev to Novgorod.
1482 When Khan Mengli I Giray attacked Kiev in 1482, many Jews were taken captive and deported to Crimea.
1471 1st records in the chronicles of the presence of Jewish people in Muscovite Russia.
1495  Jews were exiled from Lithuania. They were also ordered to leave Kiev.
 

1503 Lithuania revoked the regulation and Jewish people were free to return to Kiev. The local Christian merchants strongly opposed Jewish settlement in the town and filed numerous complaints to the authorities.
 

1619  A series of restrictions on Jewish settlement in Kiev was adopted in 1619, but Jews still owned land, houses, and market stalls.
1648  Many Jews were killed in the massacre perpetrated by the supporters of Khmelnytsky. In Jewish history, the Uprising is known for the outrages against the Jews leaseholders (arendators), seen by the peasants as their immediate oppressors.
1660  Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich confirmed the ban on Jewish settlement in Kiev.
 
 

1791-1917 The Pale of Settlement - during the reign of Catherine II Jewish people were restricted to settle in a certain areas: of what is current day Belarus, Lithuania, eastern Poland, Ukraine and Cimea. This settlement took away many of the rights that the Jewish people. Jewish people were required to obtain special permission to immigrate into other parts of Russia.
 The Pale of Settlement was established after the Russian Empire acquired rule over large Lithuanian and Polish territories which historically included a high proportion of Jewish residents, during the 2nd and 3rd Partitions of Poland.
 
 

1859  The restrictions against the cultural and habitual isolation of the Jews gradually began eroding, as many Jewish merchants became suppliers of the Russian Army during the Crimean War. An ever-increasing number of Jewish people adopted Russian language and customs. Russian education was spread among the Jewish population.
starting 1880s Alexander III escalated anti-Jewish policies. Alexander III was a staunch reactionary and an antisemite, who strictly adhered to the old doctrine of Orthodoxy, Autocracy, and Nationality. His escalation of anti-Jewish policies sought to ignite «popular antisemitism», which portrayed the Jews as «Christ-killers» and the oppressors of the Slavic, Christian victims.

Beginning in the 1880s, waves of anti-Jewish pogroms swept across different regions of the empire for several decades.
1881-84, 1903-06 More than 200 anti-Jewish events occurred in the Russian Empire, notably pogroms in Kiev, Warsaw and Odessa. The trigger for these pogroms was the assassination of Tsar Alexander II, for which some blamed «foreign influence agents", implying the Jews.
More than  2 million Jews fled Russia between 1880 and 1920, mostly to the United States and what is today the State of Israel. While a large majority emigrated to the United States, some turned to Zionism.
 Zionism - Jewish nationalist movement that has had as its goal the creation and support of a Jewish national state in Palestine, the ancient homeland of the Jews. Zionism originated in eastern and central Europe in the latter part of the 19th century. Zion - one of the hills of ancient Jerusalem at the historical region of Palestine.
late 19th - early 20th centuries The Russian Empire had not only the largest Jewish population in the world, but actually a majority of the world's Jews living within its borders. According to Russian census of 1897 the total Jewish population of Russia was ~5 million (4.13% of total population). Of this total, 93.9% lived in the 25 provinces of the Pale of Settlement.
1897  General Jewish Labour Bund (The Bund) was formed. Many Jews joined the ranks of 2 revolutionary parties. Many Jews were prominent in Russian revolutionary parties. The idea of overthrowing the Tsarist regime was attractive to many members of the Jewish intelligentsia because of the oppression of non-Russian nations and non-Orthodox Christians within the Russian Empire.
 
 

1914-18 World War I - about 450,000 Jewish soldiers served in the Russian army and the Pale of Settlement de facto ceased to exist. Most of the education restrictions on the Jews were removed.
1917  After October Revolution - Yevsektsiya, the Jewish section of the Communist party, was established. The idea was to destroy the rival Bund and Zionist parties, suppress Judaism and replace traditional Jewish culture with «proletarian culture».
1919  The anti-religious laws against all expressions of religion and religious education were imposed upon the Jewish population, just like on other religious groups. The Soviet government arrested many rabbis, seized Jewish properties, including synagogues, and dissolved many Jewish communities. Zionists were persecuted harshly.

Antisemitesm  staring World War I - the chaotic years of World War I, the February and October Revolutions, and the Civil War were fertile ground for the antisemitism, Jews were often accused of sympathizing with Germany and often persecuted. Pogroms were unleashed throughout the Russian Civil War during 1918–1920.
1920s Continuing the policy of the Bolsheviks before the Revolution, Lenin and the Bolshevik Party strongly condemned the pogroms. Following the civil war the new Bolshevik government's policies produced a flourishing of secular Jewish culture in Belarus and western Ukraine. The Soviet government outlawed all expressions of anti-Semitism, and tried to modernize the Jewish community.
1926 The total number of Jews in the USSR was ~2,6 million, according to census.
1934  Jewish Autonomous Oblast in the Russian Far East was established (capital - Birobidzhan), but the region never came to have a majority Jewish population. Outside of Israel JAO is the world's only Jewish territory with an official status.
1930s Numerous Jews were victimized in Stalin's purges as «counterrevolutionaries" and «reactionary nationalists", although in the 1930s the Jews were underrepresented in the Gulag population.
1939 Poland, the nation with the world's largest Jewish population, was divided between Germany and the Soviet Union (The Molotov–Ribbentrop pact - non-aggression pact with Nazi Germany). Germany's occupation of Western Poland was a disaster for Eastern European Jews. Jews in areas annexed by the Soviet Union were deported eastward in great waves. By 1941, it was estimated that the Soviet Union was home to 4.855 million Jews, around 30% of all Jews worldwide.
Emphasis  on education and movement from countryside shtetls to newly industrialized cities allowed many Soviet Jews to enjoy overall advances under Stalin and to become one of the most educated population groups in the world.
1941-45 World War II: over 2 million Soviet Jews are believed to have died during the Holocaust, second only to the number of Polish Jews to have fallen victim to Hitler. Among some of the larger massacres were: Babi Yar, Ponary, Kharkiv at Drobnitzky Yar, Odessa, Riga in the woods at Rumbula, Simferopol, Pinsk.
1948  State of Israel recognition - the Soviet Union and United States were the first 2 countries to recognize the State of Israel. Soviet approval in the United Nations Security Council was critical to the UN partitioning of the British Mandate of Palestine, which led to the founding of the State of Israel.
1948  A wave of repression after the formation of Israel - many Soviet Jews expected the revival of Zionism to enhance their own aspirations for separate cultural and religious development in the Soviet Union.
1953  The Doctors' Plot allegation - antisemitic policy: Stalin targeted «corrupt Jewish bourgeois nationalists", eschewing the usual code words like «rootless cosmopolitans" or «cosmopolitans».
1957  USSR switched sides in the Arab–Israeli conflict and throughout the course of the Cold War unequivocally supported various Arab regimes against Israel. Israel was emerging as a close Western ally. During the later parts of the Cold War, Soviet Jews were suspected of being possible traitors, Western sympathisers, or a security liability.
 As a result of the persecution, both state-sponsored and unofficial, antisemitism was ingrained in the society and remained for years: ordinary Soviet Jews often suffered hardships, epitomized by often not being allowed to enlist in universities, work in certain professions, or participate in government. Still many Jews felt compelled to hide their identities by changing their names.
1967 After Six-Day War (Third Arab-Israeli war) an increasing numbers of Soviet Jews applied to emigrate to Israel, but many were formally refused permission to leave. Later «diploma tax" was imposed for emigrants - the fee was as high as 20 annual salaries. This measure was possibly designed to combat the brain drain caused by the growing emigration of Soviet Jews and other members of the intelligentsia to the West.
starting 1989  After Perestroika and Soviet Union collapse: many Soviet Jews took the opportunity of liberalized emigration policies, with more than half of the population leaving, most for Israel, and the West: Germany, the United States, Canada, and Australia. For many years during this period, Russia had a higher rate of immigration to Israel than any other country.
1991 With the collapse of the USSR, the life of the Jewish community was revived. Many Jewish institutions were established, starting with schools (including secondary schools and Sunday schools), through scientific and cultural institutions (Judaica Institute, theatres, choir, dance group), down to social organizations and periodicals.
 

698-926 The state of Balhae - the 1st evidence of the existence of Buddhism in the territory of the modern Russian (Siberia, near the lands of East Asian countries) lands. Balhae state occupied part of today's Primorye and Amur. The Mohe, whose culture was greatly influenced by neighboring China, Korea and Manchuria, professed the Buddhism of one of the Mahayana directions.
 It primarily spread into the Russian constituent regions geographically or culturally adjacent to Mongolia (ethnic groups: Buryatia, Zabaykalsky Krai, Tuva).
 Buryatia located in Siberia in Asia.
 Tuva located at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia.
 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Kalmyks  - the descendants of Oirats who migrated to Europe during the early part of the 17th century.
  Kalmykia is the only Buddhist region in Europe, located to the north of the Caucasus.
 As Tibetan Buddhists, the Kalmyks regard the Dalai Lama as their spiritual leader.
  Tibetan and Mongolian lamas started spreading Tibetan and Mongolian Buddhist traditions on the territory of the present-day Buryatia. They came to Russia when political disruptions started at their fatherland.
The forward-looking Russian Empress Catherine the Great created the position of Pandit-Khambo-Lama in 1764 and recognized Buddhism as one of the official religions in the Russian Empire.
2 years later, Buryat lamas declared Catherine the Great to be an earthly incarnation of the White Tara.

The area  of the present-day Buryatia was 1st colonized in the 17th century by Russians in search of wealth, furs, and gold.
From the 2nd half of the 17th century Buddhism displaced shamanism beliefs in Buryatia. By the end of the 19th century the majority of Buryats were part of the Buddhist tradition. A synthesis of Buddhism and traditional beliefs that formed a system of ecological traditions has constituted a major attribute of Buryat culture.
 

Although  the Buryats, Kalmyks, and Tuvans all shared a common religion, Buddhism evolved independently within each group. The results were distinct national systems of monasteries (Buryat datsans, Kalmyk khuruls, and Tuvan khure) and separate national ecclesiastical structures.
 

Tuva 
up to 1911 (from 1758) Tuva was part of Mongolia under Manchu rule.
 Two religions are widespread among the people of Tuva: Tibetan Buddhism and shamanism.
1911 Tsarist Russia formed a separatist movement among the Tuvans during the 1911 revolution in China.
1914  Tuva brought under Russian protectorate as Uryankhay Kray under Tsar Nicholas II.
1918 Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 that ended the imperial autocracy, most of Tuva was occupied by Kolchak's "White" Russian troops.

1921-44 Tuva constituted a sovereign, independent nation under the name of Tannu Tuva (Tuvan People's Republic). The independence of Tannu Tuva was recognized only by its neighbors: the Soviet Union and Communist Mongolia.
1944 Tuva became a part of the Soviet Union. And after the Soviet victory in World War II Tuva became an autonomous republic within the RSFSR.
1961 Tuva became the Tuvan Autonomous Oblast and, later, Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic.
1990  Tuvan Democratic Movement was founded.
1993 A new constitution for the republic was drawn up.
 
Buryatia 
1923 The Buryat-Mongolian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was created.
1958 The name "Mongol" was removed from the name of the republic.
1990 The Buryat ASSR declared its sovereignty (within the Russian Federation).
 

Techonology, Science

For Russian Hut nails and saws were rarely used, as the metal was expensive. The gaps between the logs were filled with clay, moss, hemp or tow. The smoke usually was released through a window or door).
Steam baths are known in Russia since ancient times - the legend from the Tale of Bygone Years spoke about their existence already in the 1st century.
A kosovorotka is a shirt with a slanting collar, with long sleeves, reaching the middle of the thigh. The traditional upper garment, known since ancient times. The gate looked beveled when unbuttoned.
Lapti - East Slavic version of shoes from bast. Like a basket in the form of a foot. Bast shoes were mainly of linden bast or birch bast.
Baked milk and ryazhenka - made from whole milk by boiling and subsequent prolonged uniform heating (8 hours or more).
Schi - Russian soup with cabbage as the main ingredient, which allowed the cooked dish to be safely stored for a long time without losing taste.
The harp is the oldest type of Slavic and Russian multi-string plucked instrument. The harp could have come from the Byzantine form of the Greek Kithara.
Pancakes - a culinary product from dough. Pancakes had a ritual meaning in the pre-Christian period, since they were a symbol of the sun because of the round shape.
Sour cream - fatty sour cream, containing about 40% of milk fat. Sour cream is ideal for dishes that require long cooTsar in the oven, because did not fold.

A multi-headed church is a common form for Russian churches, which distinguishes Russia from other orthodox nations and Christian denominations.
Kokoshnik is a traditional female headdress, tied at the back of the head with a long thick ribbon like a big bow.
Kissel is a dessert consisting of sweetened juice (usually from berries), oats, corn or potato starch were used for thickening, sometimes red wine or dried fruits were added.
Kvass is a fermented drink made from rye or rye bread. It depended on bread whether there would be dark or light kvass. Although it contained alcohol (1.2%) as a result of fermentation, it was nevertheless attributed to non-alcoholic beverages.
Mead - an old Slavic alcoholic drink based on honey. Fermented honey was exported as a luxury product to Europe in large quantities (Fermentation took place naturally for 15-50 years).

Birch bark letters - letters and notes made on birch bark. In Russia, birch bark was used as a cheap substitute for parchment and paper.
Koçh was an ancient form of an icebreaker. This is a one-or two-masted wooden sailing ship used for navigation in the Arctic seas and rivers of Siberia. Koch was developed by the Russian Pomors in the 11th century, when they mastered the shores of the White Sea. A characteristic feature of the body of a coch was the egg-shaped form.
The skeleton of the kocha is protected from floating ice floes with cladding (made of oak or larch) along the possible waterline, and had a false hood for crossing over ice. Eastern Slavs discovered a way to accelerate fermentation by heating the honey mixture, which made mead widely available in Kievan Rus.
Russian fist fight is an ancient Russian martial art, similar to modern boxing.
Silver coinage.
The horn (bow) is an ancient stringed musical instrument of the Eastern Slavs.

First - type of club with feathers (plates) welded to the knob.
Checker - a special type of saber, very sharp, one-sided sharpening, one-handed and without guard. By sight checker something between a saber and a straight sword.
A bear or spear spear is a midcentury type of spear used in hunting for bears or other large animals, such as bison and war horses.
The pointedThe pointed tip of the ratine is enlarged and usually has the form of a bay leaf.
Ratchet - Russian folk ethnic autophone musical instrument, which was used to simulate the clapping.

Soha is a wooden plow that could be pulled by one horse. The plow was a development of a scratching plow. The coulters, who turned the earth over in the plow, simply pushed aside the layer of earth in the plow, which made it possible to preserve soil fertility. Lapta is a Russian game with a ball and a bat (lapto), reminiscent of modern baseball.
Dumplings - a dish originally from Siberia. The word «dumplings» came from the Finno-Ugric languages: Komi, Udmurt, Mansi. Mongol-Tatars brought the main idea of ravioli from China to Siberia and Eastern Europe.

Abur is an alphabet designed and introduced by Russian missionary Stephan Permsky in 1372.
The name comes from the first two letters «A» and «Bur». The alphabet is based on the Cyrillic alphabet, the Greek alphabet and the Komi tribal signs. It was used up to the 17th century when it was supplanted by the Cyrillic alphabet.
The belfry is a large rectangular structure containing many arches or beams on which the bells were attached. The bell-ringer, who drove the bells from below with long ropes, played them like a giant musical instrument.
A sundress is a long, shapeless apron type part of a traditional folk costume worn by girls and women.

Berdysh is a long ax, uniting the merits of an ax and a spear. In Eastern Europe, it was used instead of a halberd. Berdysh was regularly and widely spread at the beginning of the 15th century in Russia.
Gulyai-gorod is a mobile fortress made of shields mounted on carts or sleds. The use of shields instead of armored carts allowed more combinations during assembly.
The boyar's cap, also known as the gorlatnaya cap, is made of fur and was worn by the Russian nobility between 15-17 centuries, mainly boyars, who emphasized their status. The higher the cap, the higher the status.
Russian stove or Russian stove - a unique type of stove / hearth. It was used both for cooTsar and for heating.
Rassolnik is a Russian soup made from pickled cucumbers, pearl barley, pork or beef kidneys, although there was a vegetarian version. The dish is known from the 15th century, when it was first called «kalya».
1430 Russian vodka is a distillation drink made up only of water and ethanol. Produced by fermentation of rye, wheat and others. The standard percentage of alcohol - 40.

Berdysh became the weapon of archers, servicemen, armed with handguns, who used the riders as a support when shooting.
1515 The Stroganovs salt-mining industry opened.
1563 Beginning of printing.
Hip roof - technology in Russian architecture, widely used in the 16-17th centuries. Until that time, tent conical (polygonal) roofs were made of wood for the same wooden churches. The idea of such a roof shape originated in the Russian north: it did not allow snow to accumulate on wooden buildings during the long winter.
Kokoshnik (architecture) is a semi-circular or keeled element of traditional Russian architecture, a type of protruding blind arches.
The end of the 16th century Russian abacus or accounts is a decimal type of abacus, which is a frame with a dozen beads on each wire. The tenth of the Russian abacus and simplicity led to the widespread use of accounts up to the invention of the calculator.

The Battery Tower is a late type of siege tower, carrying artillery inside, developing the idea of a walking-city. The first such tower was built by Russian military engineer I.G. Vyrodkovym for the siege of Kazan in 1552 and could carry 10 large-caliber guns and 50 small.
Towns is an old Russian-national sports game. The goal is to break a group of pins laid in a certain order by throwing a bat at them. The pins were called «towns», and the square zone where they are folded is «city».
Roller coasters - winter sleigh races conducted on hills specially made of ice, sometimes up to 80 meters high, were the precursors of modern roller coasters.
The triple is a traditional Russian horse cart, the only one in the world of different allure sleds: the middle horse («root») had to run a clear trot, and the side horses («buckle») - at a gallop, which allowed them to develop very high speeds (up to 40-50 km / hour).
Balalaika is a stringed instrument with a characteristic triangular deck and three strings. The balalaika family consisted of: a balalaika prima, a second balalaika, a balalaika alto, a bass balalaika, a balalaika double bass.
Barrel roof or just a barrel - a type of roof in traditional Russian architecture, which was a semi-cylinder witharaised or pointed upper part, similar to a pointed kokoshnik.
Khokhloma - painting on wood with bright floral patterns, red and gold on a black background on cheap and light wooden utensils or accessories.
The bird of happiness is a traditional toy for the Russian North, carved in the shape of a bird. It was invented by the Pomors, the inhabitants of the coast of the White and Barents Seas.
The bird of happiness was made without glue or other fastenings, carefully cutting out thin petals for the wings and tail of the bird.

1704 Decimal money system. Russia was the 1st country to introduce such a currency after the reform of the financial system in 1704. After 91 years, the example of Russia was followed by France.
1717 A lathe with a mechanized composite support of A.K. Nartov made it possible to grind a part easily and with great precision.
1746 A.K. Nartov invented the optical sight for artillery guns.
1754 M.V. Lomonosov invented a working prototype of the vertical take-off apparatus for lifting meteorological instruments.
1763 A two-cylinder steam engine was designed and built by I.I. Crawler. He was also credited with creating the first economizer in the world.
1776 I.P. Kulibin made a model of a bridge across the Neva with a length of 298 meters in 1/10 scale, marking the beginning of the modeling of bridges.
1791 I.P. Kulibin designed a mechanical prosthetic leg. This invention was highly appreciated by military doctors and former military men.
1790s A.O. Sichra invented the Russian guitar.
1793 Screw elevator - a type of elevator that used a screw system instead of a winch, led to the creation of modern passenger elevators. The first such elevator was invented by I.P. Kulibin and installed in the Winter Palace.

1839 In 1834 B.S. Jacobi (German and Russian inventor physicist) created the 1st in the world with the direct rotation of the armature electric motor.
1802 The establishment in a ministry of public education and the division of the country into 6 great educational districts to administer a network of
In 1838 he discovered electroplating - the process of deposition of metal on the form, allowing you to create perfect copies of the original object.
In 1839 he invented the electric boat.
In 1832 P.L. Schilling was invented by the Electromagnetic Telegraph. Information was transmitted using codes invented by them.
In 1839 B.S. Jacobi created a writing telegraph, and in 1850 - direct printing.
1847-54 N.I. Pirogov owned a palm for the introduction of anesthesia with ether in the field - in the hospitals of the fronts of the Caucasian and Russian-Turkish wars. He also founded field surgery.
1848 1848, at the suggestion of a member of the Central Administration of the Transcaucasian Region V.N. Semenov 1e took place in the world oil drilling for oil production.

In 1857 FK San Galli was invented by a radiator (a heat exchanger used to transfer heat from one medium to another).
In 1864 M.O. Britney built an icebreaker (this is a ship for movement through ice-covered waters). Also 1864 - the year of the creation of a torpedo (self-propelled military projectile) I.F. Alexandrovsky.
In 1867 N.A. Teleshov was the author of one of the 1x in the world of jet aircraft projects.
In 1869 D.I. Mendeleev invented the Periodic System of Chemical Elements.
In 1872 A.N. Lodygin invented the electric lamp.
In 1873, under the leadership of A.A. Popova was built the 1st in the world oceanic armored cruiser.
1876 In 1876 PN Yablochkov was invented by Yablochkov Candle. It was first demonstrated as street and theater lighting at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1878.
In 1880 F.A. Pirotsky was invented by an electric tram.
In 1881 N.I. Kibalchich created the scheme of the aircraft on the jet propulsion - the project of the rocket.
In 1882 A.F. Mozhaisky was built Aircraft Mozhaisky - one of the 1x in the world of aircraft, intended to lift man centurya.
In 1895 A.S. Popov invented a radio receiver (extracting signals from radio emissions).

1901 1901 I.P. Pavlov opened the conditioned reflex. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1904 for his work on the physiology of digestion.
The same year, I.I. Mechnikov created the Phagocytic theory of immunity. For his work in the field of immunity, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in 1908, along with P.I. Erlich.
In 1903 K.E. Tsiolkovsky formulated a theoretical rationale for the possibility of space flight.
In 1904 proof of the lifting theorem N.E. Zhukovsky can be considered the year of birth of aerodynamics as a science.
In 1907 B.L. Rosing invented the first electronic method of recording and reproducing an image.
In 1913 I.I. Sikorsky invented a passenger plane - the 4-engine aircraft «Russian Knight» and «Ilya Muromets» appeared in the world 1st.
In the 1920s V.I. Vernadsky made a huge contribution to the creation of geochemistry. He became the founder of biogeochemistry.
In 1937 V.P. Demikhov created the Artificial Heart.
In 1939 the Katusha Self-Propelled Multiple-launch Vault System was invented.
In 1940 M.I. Koshkin created the T-34 Tank.

In 1947 the Kalashnikov machine gun was invented. The AK and its modifications were the most common small arms in the world.
In 1954 under the leadership of I.V. Kurchatov was built 1st in the world nuclear power plant (nuclear power plant). And the reactor for it was designed by N.А. Dollezhal.
1961 1961 The mass supersonic MiG-21 was launched in 1955.
1957The first artificial Earth satellite Sputnik-1 was launched in 1957.
In 1961 the 1st manned spacecraft (Yu.A. Gagarin) launched the Vostok-1 spacecraft.
In 1966 the 1st artificial moon of the Moon «Luna-10» was launched.
In 1967 for the first time, docking was carried out between the spacecraft Cosmos-186 and Cosmos-188.
1970s Created by J.I. Alfair semiconductor heterostructures played an important role in the development of electronics in the 1970s (Nobel Prize).
In 1970 the 1st Planetary Rover Lunokhod-1 was sunk.
In 1973 S.N. Fedorov was the first to have a glaucoma treatment.
In 1975 the nuclear-powered icebreaker «Arktika» was the 2nd Soviet nuclear-powered icebreaker and the 1st ship that reached the North Pole in surface navigation.
In 1985 the Komsomolets Submarine set an absolute record of immersion - 1027 meters.
In 1987 the Mir deepwater submersible reached the bottom at the North Pole.